Role Playing
by Kris6
Summary: Faith fell into a coma and awakened a new Slayer, unbeknownst to the Council. Four years later, the new Slayer is found and Faith has a new role to adjust to.
1. New Slayer

Role Playing

Disclaimer: Don't own them, but wish I did.

Summary: Faith fell into a coma and awakened a new Slayer, unbeknownst to the Council. Four years later, the new Slayer is found and Faith has a new role to adjust to.

Rating: PG to PG-13 because, come on it's Faith. Need I say more?

Spoilers: The whole show, but only refers to Seasons 3 and part of 4. Basically everything Faith related is fair game. Kind of a crossover-ish with a movie. You'll see what next chapter.

Feedback: Sure, why not?

A/N: First attempt at BtVS fic. Oh, and don't remind me, I already know that the title sucks.

Two guards led a young girl down a long corridor, roughly shoving her every so often. She just continued to walk down the hall at her own pace with her head downcast, despite the provoking from the guards.

They eventually got to an empty room where a man in a gray suit and a briefcase sat. The guards led her to a seat and walked off.

"You are the infamous Faith," the man says in his thick British accent.

"What the fuck do you want?" She asks in a low voice, not bothering to lift her head in acknowledgement.

"I am Sheldon Winters. I have come to congratulate you," he says darkly.

"Yeah? Well yay for me. What the fuck did I do to get congratulated?" She asks sarcastically. 

"You have done the impossible. You defied Prophesy," Sheldon says with irritation with her impatience.

Faith finally looks up to give him a questioning expression. "What are you talking about?" She asks with clear confusion.

"Do you remember that night on the roof when you and the other Slayer were fighting and you jumped off the roof and went into a coma?"

"No, it doesn't ring a bell," she sneers. 

He chose to ignore that statement and continue. "When you landed, your heart stopped beating, for just a second," the man stopped and looked at her.

Faith's dark eyes, if at all possible, further clouded over as a look of realization came over her face. "What does a new Slayer have to do with prophesy?" She asks.

"You weren't supposed to die. You aren't supposed to die until next week. Hell, you aren't even supposed to be in prison. The night you die, you're supposed to die in Sunnydale. Stabbed by a mugger. Not a particularly noble way to go for a Slayer, but you were never very noble to begin with, were you?" He asks with a smirk.

"Why the fuck did you come here?!" She asks. "To kill me? I mean, shit, forget only two Slayers, now you have three on your hands. The last thing you need is another extra Slayer," she seethes.

"You weren't supposed to jump that night. If you hadn't have punched the other Slayer and jumped, then the two of you would have eventually reconciled. But no, you jumped and another Slayer was called before the Council found out who it was and could train them. We didn't even know about her until a month ago. We had heard reports in Detroit of a young girl fighting a gang of deformed teenagers."

"How old is she?" Faith asks with concern.

"The girl was called when she was twelve, she just turned sixteen. Her name is Michelle," he states.

"Well, thank you very much for informing me that my eternally fucked destiny has been fulfilled. I'm going back to my cell now," she says as she rises.

"The Council needs your help!" he cries out desperately.

She stops dead in her tracks and turns around. "What could the Council possibly need my help for?"

"Like I had said, she had been called without us even knowing. She's been solely relying on instinct," he says.

"And I repeat, what do you want me to do? I fail to see how I could possibly been of any use of anyone for anything," she says with uncertainty. 

"Michelle, the new Slayer, is very much like you. Once we had found her, she rejected the very idea of a Watcher. We do not want yet another Rogue Slayer on our hands," he explains, sneering the last part.

"Gee thanks. I'm touched," she says while rolling her eyes. "You know, you aren't helping your cause, whatever it may be, with that attitude," she teases. "So, what is it? You need her ass locked up too and the prodigal Slayer is too busy with the Apocalypse of the month to chase her down?"

"No, we don't want her imprisoned. Unlike you, she hasn't broken any laws," he snaps.

"I'm crushed," Faith grumbles. "So, what is it that you need my help for?"

"Seeing as how you two seem to be kindred spirits of sorts, we need you," he pauses to wipe off his glasses and rub the bridge of his nose to ward off the impending headache. "We need you to be her Watcher," he admits, the very idea paining him to no end.

"Oh, fuck me," Faith says incredulous as she sinks back into her seat. She then bursts out in laughter. "Tell me that was a joke," he shakes his head to the negative and her laughter rises. "The conservative, old-fashioned British assholes need my to be a Watcher to mini me?" She continues to crack up and as her laughter subsides, she takes a moment to wipe away the tears forming behind her eyes.

"Quite," he says with the trademark British stuffiness. "Are you finished?" He asks with more than a little irritation.

"Please, let me enjoy the irony," she begs. After a moment, her face goes serious. "Wouldn't you have been better off enlisting the aid of the 'good' slayer?"

"Well, she may be the 'good' slayer, as you put it, but you actually read the Slayer's manual. You know what is and is not acceptable," he says.

"All the good it did me," she scoffs.

"The way we figure it, there is no one better to train her than another Slayer. As much as the Council hates to admit it, you were actually somewhat on the right track with Buffy."

"What the hell are you talking about 'right track'?" She asks with a snort.

"She needed to see the positive part in her slaying and enjoy it as you so obviously did. The thing that separates you from the other Slayers is that, when you died, it was on your own terms. You didn't let anyone beat you."

"I'm sure that B sticking me with my own knife helped it along," she says with a s twirl of her index finger for emphasis.

"The only person that beat you was yourself," he says with a focused expression on his face.

"Please buddy, can you not wax philosophical on me here? I think I may be physically ill if you keep that shit up," she says with mock disgust. "Can you just be specific as to what exactly this will consist of?"

"So you'll do it?" He asks with hope.

"If it will get me out of this hell-hole, damn straight," she says with enthusiasm.

"Well, you need to train her and help build her skills as a Slayer. You will also need to educate her on her duties and the like."

"So, I will be multitasking as a Slayer _and_ a Watcher," she asks and he nods. "Tell be Shell, will I be getting paid for this double duty?" She asks.

"Oh, of course you will. However, there is a catch," he says sheepishly.

"Shit, figures. What might that be?" She asks with a grimace.

"As you know, she is of high school age and actually attends school," he says pointedly and she raises an eyebrow. "You need to go back to school," he says, closing his eyes and steeling himself for a blow. 

"What good will school do if I won't be around long enough to use this useless crap? I mean, if I am supposed to die soon, what's the point. How do you know that I won't die on the way to Detroit?" She asks.

"Michelle is no longer in Detroit," he states.

"What? Did she run away or something?" Faith asks with mild interest.

"No, her family has moved from there," he says to her.

"So, are you going to leave me hanging, or am I going to have to beat it out of you?" She asks, frustrated at his wanting to stall.

"She is in California now. They are about to move from L.A. to San Diego," he informs her.

"That's fan-fucking-tastic, I don't even get to leave the state. It's still pathetically close to Sunnyhell, the Prodigal Slayer and the dorky Slayerettes," she says while rolling her eyes. "She still lives with her family?" She asks.

"Yes. Her parents and her brother, who is also sixteen"

"This is fabulous. Parents always tend to make things a little more complex," she thinks about this a moment. "Oh well, not my problem. When do we leave?" She shrugs.

"Get your things and I'll sign you out," he says with excitement.

"Wicked cool," she says and she smirks at the guards as they take her back to her cell to collect whatever belongings she may have.


	2. New School

Faith stares up at the building with apprehension. "Shell, I don't think that this is such a good idea. I mean, come on, you Council guys are depending on an ex-con. There is something very not Kosher with that. Tell me that you noticed it too," she pleads.

"Faith," he says while taking off his glasses to rub his eyes. "You may not believe this, but the Council has always been on your side," he states.

"For real?" She asks and he nods his head. "If they were pulling for me, why did they try and off me when I woke from the coma?" She asks skeptically.

"We weren't trying to 'off you', we were going to bring you to England and try to reform you," Faith scoffs. "It was obviously the wrong approach, obviously."

"So, what, after three years in prison they feel that I am rehabilitated? They trust me again?" She asks, hope creeping into her voice.

"No," Sheldon states bluntly. "This is another attempt at rehabilitation. This is as much for you as it is for Michelle. We have faith in you," he says with a smile.

"Nice pun," Faith says while rolling her eyes, but smiling nonetheless. "I just don't know if I can handle this, you know? It's a lot of responsibility for me. If it was just me on my own, then I would be fine, but you're putting me in charge of another girl's life. Now it's two lives that I have a chance at fucking up," she says with a sigh.

"Listen, you need to have more confidence in yourself. You are stronger than you think," he tells her. "Besides, I think our biggest problem is your people skills, or lack thereof, as it were," he says with a smirk.

"That's for damn sure," she grumbles. She takes a deep breath and glances back up at the malicious building standing before her. "Okay, school," she says, trying to psych herself up. "So, the Council has everything taken care of right? School records and all that shit?"

"Yes, we have everything taken care of Faith. All you have to do is go in," Sheldon tells her.

"Okay. I can do this. I'm Faith the Vampire Slayer, I can do anything," she says to herself and lets out a deep breath to psych herself up. "Will I see you again?" She asks.

"No, I am afraid not. I have done everything I am supposed to. Everything else is up to you. Oh, and before I forget, here are the keys to your apartment and car," he says with a wink.

"Apartment and car?" Faith repeats and he nods. "Damn, kick ass job perks," she says with a crooked grin. "So, there's nothing else I'm supposed to know, nothing else you can do?" She pleads and he shakes his head. "Talk about a leap of faith," she mumbles.

"That's the idea," he agrees. "But don't underestimate the Council Faith. We will be keeping an eye on you and if we feel that your performance is inadequate, more severe measures will be taken," he warns. "It is inadvisable that you go rogue again."

"I can't make any promises because then it's pretty much guaranteed that I'll fail, but I am going to tell you that I'm going to try my hardest to not fuck things up," she says earnestly.

"If that's all you can offer, then that's all we can ask," Sheldon says with a smile.

"Alright then. Off I go," Faith says with a sigh. She grabs her bag and gets out of the car and shuts the door. Sheldon drives off and Faith is left staring up at the school. "Here you are Faith, the first day of the rest of your life," she mumbles to herself, recalling her prison therapist's first words to her.

She pulls a death grip on the strap of her backpack and starts to walk toward the school. Slowly, but surely, because she isn't in too much of a hurry, she gets to the entrance of the school and stands in front of the door. "Come on Faith, you're a fucking Slayer. You've survived apocalypses, vampires and demons, how much harder can school be?" She asks herself.

Faith heaves the door open, cringing at the banging sound it made as it slammed against the wall, thinking how stupid she was to have forgotten about her Slayer strength. Upon entering, she breathes a sigh of relief when she realizes that the halls are empty. So, she takes a quick look around before taking a guess as to where the main office is. Eventually, she gets there and cautiously enters.

"Hello. Can I help you?" The secretary asks with a smile.

"Yeah. I'm new here and-" Faith begins.

"You need to go to see Principal Reynolds," the secretary says with a smile. "His office is down that hall and the second door on the right," she tells her.

"Thanks," Faith says and heads down to the principal's office. "Talk about deja vu," she mumbles to herself. She knocks and opens the door.

"Hello Faith. I'm Principal Reynolds, but you can call me Charles," he says with a smile, standing up and offering his hand to her.

"Okay Chuck. Will do. You can call me Faith," she responds, shaking his hand.

"Nice to finally meet you," Charles says, taking his seat and motioning for Faith to do the same.

"What do you mean 'finally'? You were just sent the transfer papers yesterday," she says, confusion evident in her tone.

"That was pretty much just a formality. I work with the Council," he tells her. "I've known for quite sometime that you may be transferred here."

"Wow, you guys sure have your bases covered. Why didn't they just have you watch over this Michelle chick?" Faith asks. "It would be easier, and safer, than taking a known criminal out of prison," she states glumly.

"It would be too, um, shady if she and I were to constantly be around each other for non-school related things. Especially since I don't suppose that she would be the school spirit type, we really would have no business interacting unless she got in trouble. It would be far less suspicious-"

"If it was two high school girls constantly hanging out?" She finishes and he nods. "And seeing as how it is very doubtful that the Council has any school age employees, that left me, who is too old to be in school anyways."

"Not according to your records," Charles says with a smile. "The Council adjusted some things and made you 16. Everything from the time you joined the Mayor until now has been wiped out."

"What about before Richard?" She asks. "Did you change anything from then too?"

"I am afraid not. We couldn't take out bits and pieces, we were only able to take out the last four years," he says with a slight frown.

"Okay," Faith says with disappointment. "Can you tell me about the new Slayer? I mean, I know next to nothing about her. Just her first name and her current Slayer status. That's about it."

"Sadly, I don't know much about her either. This is her first day here as well and she went to guidance for her schedule. So, I haven't met her yet," Charles explains. "Oh, speaking of schedules, I have yours right here. I made sure that the two of you at least had a couple of classes together," he says as he hands it over.

"You didn't give me any hard shit did you Chuck?" She asks as she reaches over to take it.

"It depends on your definition of 'hard shit', as you so eloquently put it. By the way, you might like to look over the school rules. It might do you some good because, I may have let it slip this one time, the other teachers may not be quite so tolerant."

"Alright, I got it," she grumbles as she looks over the schedule. "Algebra 2? Advanced chemistry? What the hell is this all about?" She asks, horrified by the classes. "Did you not get the memo saying that I'm not exactly the brightest crayon in the box?"

"Faith, I'm positive that you will do fine. I'll send for a student to show you around. You've already missed first block, so they'll show you to your next one," he says cheerfully as he ushers her out before she can protest. 

Faith grunts in opposition as she's pushed out of his office. "That's just great," she grumbles as she walks out into the main office.

"You the new girl?" A blonde cheerleader asks as she walks into the office, looking Faith up and down.

"Yeah. Who the f...hell are you?" Faith responds, catching herself.

"I'm Courtney. Principal Reynolds wanted me to show you around the school or some shit," Courtney replies. "Come on," she barks.

"Aye, aye Captain," Faith shoots back sarcastically as she goes over to the cheerleader. "Don't get your skirt in a bind," she grumbles.

"You're one to talk. What's with all the leather? This is California not wherever the hell you came from," Courtney bites back and Faith smirks. "Screw you."

"Nice verbal skills...for a cheerleader that is," she retorts with a grin. "I haven't met a cheerleader with such an extensive vocabulary," she smirks.

"Skank," Courtney mumbles and Faith raises an eyebrow. "Let me see your schedule so I can get this torment over with," she orders as she snatches it from Faith. "Shit," she grumbles.

"What?" Faith asks, not really giving a damn, but curious nonetheless.

"We have PE and world lit together," she grumbles, thoroughly not pleased.

"Joy of joys," Faith says, rolling her eyes. She looks upwards and opens her arms. "Go ahead, kick me while I'm down," she says.

"What's your deal? I'm the one that'll have to see you every day."

"So, what, I should be blessed to be in your divine presence?" Faith asks rhetorically.

"Damn straight!" She responds and Faith starts to laugh. Courtney raises her eyebrow. "Come on. Let me take you to second block, world lit," she says, smiling despite herself.

Faith walks into her world literature teacher's class and he turned to her. "Hey," Faith smiles as she hands him her schedule.

He gives her a strange look as he takes the schedule from her. "I'm Mr. Waters," he says suspiciously as he looks at her schedule to find her name. "Faith. This is certainly a big day for new students. However, I wasn't aware of you," he says.

"Yeah. Sorry about that, I guess it was kind of last minute. In fact, I didn't find out that I was getting out of...my last school until yesterday," Faith replies, nearly slipping.

"That is short notice. Would you happen to know the other two students?" Mr. Waters asks.

"No, why?" She asks, knitting her brows together in confusion when the bell rings, cutting her off.

"Please, take a seat," he offers, pointing to a seat in the back, between Courtney and another cheerleader giggling in the back.

"Figures. Fucking cheerleaders," Faith grumbles to herself as she heads back. She sits in the assigned seat with a long suffering sigh.

"Not happy to see me?" Courtney taunts and her friend giggles. Faith shoots them both menacing glares, effectively shutting them up.

"I'm Whitney," the other cheerleader offers hesitantly.

"Nice to meet you," Faith replies with a derisive grin. Both cheerleaders quiet down again, not wanting to provoke the irate Slayer further, letting the class pass by slowly. The bell rings and Faith bolts out the door, running into a dark haired boy, knocking him over.

"Hey, there you are!" He says excitedly. "Guess what?" The boy asks.

"Huh?" Faith offers as the most intelligent thing she can muster given the situation.

"I just met someone. Her name is Torrance," he says with a big goofy grin.

"Good for you Skippy," Faith responds, patting him on the shoulder. "I'll be sure to alert the media," she says, noting a vague resemblance between him and Xander.

"Hey, Chuck," Faith says as she enters his office after her last class.

"Yes Faith," Charles replies. "Did you find her?" He asks with hope as he leans forward in his seat.

"No, I didn't. I mean, I was all waiting by the classes and s...stuff," she says, catching herself again. "But I didn't see her or nothing."

"What do you mean by 'waiting by the classes'? Shouldn't you have been in those classes?" He asks scornfully. 

"Well, you see, this school thing takes some getting used to. I need to ease back into it. Baby steps you know," she says, hoping that he goes for it.

"Faith," he says, rubbing his eyes to ward off the headache he feels coming on. "You need to go to class. If you are to pass as a believable high school student, you're going to have to actually go to class."

"I didn't go to class when I was in school," she shrugs. "I think that that is believable enough, don't you?" She asks.

"If you don't obey the Council's wishes, they'll put you back into prison," he warns.

"How do you know that that wouldn't be for the best Chuck? How do you know that everyone wouldn't be better off if I was back in prison?" Faith asks glumly.

"Faith," Charles sighs. "A Slayer in prison is of no use. The Council thinks that you deserve at least another shot at redeeming yourself. You're lucky, decades ago, you would've been executed by us."

"Fine, fine. I'll go look for her. Maybe she's still on campus or something. I hear that they're having cheerleading tryouts, she may be up for that," Faith relents with a sigh.

"What makes you think that?" Charles asks with confusion.

"Maybe to be more normal. I heard that Buffy had tried out for the squad back in Sunnydale. Or, maybe to keep her Slayer skills honed. It's worth a shot. And besides, if that doesn't work out, I can always track her down at her house, of which I'm sure you have the address," she says.

"I see your point. I'll see you later Faith," ha says as she leaves his office.

"Yeah. Later Chuck," she says as she leaves.

"Chuck?" He says to himself, shaking his head with an amused smile on his face.

Faith strolls up to the gym, listening to sounds of cheering. She inwardly cringes as she nears. When she approaches, she peers in to see a tables of cheer-bitches, including the ever popular Courtney and Whitney. She leans against the outside door as the next person steps up to the plate. She can only see the back of the girl, but she can tell that this is her girl. Faith is a little thrown off by the confused expressions on Courtney and Whitney's faces, but quickly dismisses it. 

The girl steps up in front of the Council of Cheerleaders, or so it seems. She inwardly cringes, doubting her sanity. She gets a strange sensation and her back tenses up, like when she's around a vamp, only less unpleasant and more comforting. She turns to glance behind her at the door, but is interrupted.

"Missy, is it?" A dark haired girl at the table asks patronizingly. Missy can't help but sneer back. 

Faith puts the name together. 'Missy, Michelle. Okay, I can see that.'

"I'm sorry, but tattoos are strictly forbidden," a pompous blonde cheerleader states with a smug ass grin on her face.

From the doorway, Faith looks at Missy's arm and notices the tattoo. She looks over at Missy and sees that she flips off Courtney, the wonder bitch. She sees that she licks the finger and runs it along her arm, smearing the ink.

"I got bored during fourth period," Missy states with a shrug.

Faith watches the whole interview thing from the doorway, gaining intense pleasure when Missy stunned Courtney into silence with the flips and stuff.

"We have so already decided on Jamie," Courtney says, and Faith scoffs from her position. "Besides," she begins, sharing a knowing glance with Whitney, "she looks like an uber-dyke."

Faith was fuming and had an urge to storm in there and deck Courtney, but restrained herself to see Missy turn around and storm out. Faith opted for going to speak to Missy.

Missy is livid as she stalks out of the gym. 'Damn bitches. I knew that I must've been out of my goddamned mind for even considering becoming a cheerleader. Especially with all this other Slayer shit going on.' She thinks to herself, before pausing as she exits the gym.

She looks around, sensing the same thing as in the gym. Missy slowly turns the corner and runs into some dark haired chick.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't see you," Missy stutters as she bends down to pick up her keys.

Faith turn the corner as, presumably, Missy runs into her and quickly apologizes as she picks up her keys. 'Even her voice seems familiar'.

"It's cool," Faith says with a smile. Her smile quickly fades as Missy looks up.

Missy looks up, at first with curiosity toward the first person being somewhat civil to her. Then her smile fades. They stare at each other, mirror images of one another. 


	3. Meeting

Faith and Missy are staring at, what seems to be, their identical twin. Their jaws simultaneously drop and they stand there, speechless.

"Who...who are you?" Missy finally asks, unnerved by Faith's resemblance.

"I'm Faith, a Vampire Slayer," she breathes out. "You're Missy, the other one," she continues.

"But how? They...they told me that you were in...in prison," Missy stammers, unconsciously looking around for an escape.

"The Council let me out," Faith says and Missy cocks her head to the side. "They want you to have a Watcher, but you shot them down. Good job," she smirks.

"What the fuck does that have to do with your being here?" Missy asks.

"They want me to be your Watcher," Faith says with a laugh. "They got me out of prison just so I can be your Watcher," she repeats, shaking her head.

"I went four years without a Watcher. I think that that means I'm doing something right," Missy replies, putting her hands on her hips.

"Oh yeah?" Faith challenges and Missy nods. "Okay then, hit me," she says. Missy takes a swing at her head, but Faith ducks and Missy ends up with her back to Faith. She turns just in time to get punched in the face.

"Fuck," Missy gripes as she brings her hand up to her face. After she regains her focus, she takes another swing. This time Faith catches her fist in the air and twists her arm around to her back, shoving Missy against the lockers.

"Evidently you need a little improvement. Especially if rusty, out of practice little old me can take you," Faith says into Missy's ear with a smirk. 

Missy grunts in acknowledgement that Faith is right. "Fine. Shit, unstable much?" She groans.

"Cool," Faith beams with a triumphant grin as she releases her hold on Missy. "Here's the address I'll be at," Faith states as she copies it down on a piece of paper and hand it to the younger girl and turns to leave.

"Faith?" Missy calls before Faith can disappear. Faith turns around and faces her with an expression encouraging her to continue. "What's with the resemblance between the two of us?"

"I don't know, I guess you just got lucky," Faith grins trying to cover up her doubt. "Look, I'll catch you later," she says as she picks up her backpack, turns and walks off.

Missy stands still a moment, watching Faith leave. She runs a hand nervously through her hair. "No way that really just happened," she murmurs to herself.

Faith turns the corner and heads toward the school parking lot, her confident stride giving way to a slow, uncertain gait. Then, the thought hits her that she doesn't know what car she's got. She looks down at the keys, that she has a tight death grip on, and sees an alarm on the key chain. Faith hits the button and sees the lights flash across the lot on a black Jeep Wrangler.

"Sweet," she mumbles to no one in particular. She gets into the car and sets her head on the steering wheel. "I have no fucking clue what I'm doing," she moans before starting the ignition and taking off.

Faith pulls up to her apartment and gets out a piece of paper with the apartment number on it. She reaches in and finds that it isn't there. However, she pulls out an ID and sees that she grabbed Missy's bag by accident. "Shit," she mumbles as she digs through her pocket, pulling out Missy's address.

Faith drives up, gets out of the car and walks up to the door. As she stands there, Faith pauses before ringing the bell. She hears the thumping sound of someone coming down the stairs and the door swings open.

"What happened Miss, you go and lock yourself out?" A boy asks with a smirk and it takes all of Faith's self control not to throttle him. He walks into the house and she follows him in.

"Something like that," Faith mumbles, feeling incredibly awkward in some stranger's house. Then it dawns on her that as long as he thinks she's Missy, she can freely roam the house. So, she goes upstairs, hoping to find the real Missy up there.

Missy's sitting on her bed listening to the radio to try and clear her head. Then she hears a light knock on the door. So, she gets up and turns her radio down. When she unlocks the door, she turns back around toward her bed before she even sees who opens the door.

"What do you want Cliff?" Missy says as she turns around when she sits down on the bed. That's when she notices that she is looking at Faith. "What are you doing here?" She asks nervously.

"Grabbed the wrong bag," Faith explains with a smirk as she holds up said bag. She notices the apprehensive expression on Missy's face. "I didn't come here to off you, you know?" She says softly.

The tension in Missy's back noticeably releases. "Yeah," she replies, but Faith looks at her skeptically. "It's just, I kind of got the impression from the Council that you were this cold-blooded killer," she shrugs nervously. "In fact, that's the only thing about you that they told me."

"Yeah," Faith mumbles as she leans over to set the bag down on the floor by the door to Missy's room. "I'll see you later," she says with a faint smile as she turns and walks out.

Missy is sitting on her bed, kicking herself and looking for an excuse to go after Faith. She then sees that she still has Faith's backpack next to her bed. She grabs it and runs off down stairs, careful not to draw her brother's attention.

"Faith!" Missy calls as she jogs out of the house and Faith turns to face her. "You forgot your bag," she says, handing it over.

"Thanks," Faith says, disappointment clouding over her for the briefest of moments as she grabs onto the bag.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Missy says, still holding on. 

"Right, tomorrow. I guess we can head over to my place after school," Faith says, drawing out the word 'school' with distain, causing Missy to smile back at her.

Faith finally made it into her apartment and her eyes lit up at the spacious living room. "Those Council bastards don't disappoint," she mutters to herself as she moves around to check out the rest of the place.

"Nice!" She says with glee as she finds where they put the weapons. She pulls out a sword and swings it around a few times before setting it back in the closet.

Next, Faith takes a stake from the closet. Reverently, she turns it around in her hand, reveling in the feel of the wood against her skin. She examines it as if in a trance, feeling the weight and size of it. 

Looking out the window, smile spreads across her face as she watches as the sun slips below the horizon. She smiles fondly down at the stake in her hand as if it were an old friend. She walks purposefully to the door, grabbing her jacket on the way, and she heads out, slipping the stake inside her jacket.

At first, Faith starts to just wander aimlessly around the city. She's not so much looking to start trouble as she is trying to prevent it. Eventually, she manages to make it to a cemetery. A familiar tingle runs up her spine and she's suddenly juiced up. 

Her hand instinctually goes to where her stake is hidden in her jacket and she starts to make her way to where the danger is. She hears a muffled scream in the distance and she is off and running. When she approaches, she sees a mourner being taunted by a vampire.

"Hey," Faith says to the vampire, to draw his attention away from the woman.

"You can wait your turn," the vampire says with a low chuckle as he turns from the woman to face Faith. The woman scrambles away next to a tombstone.

Faith looks at the woman and rolls her eyes, silently wishing that people would just run away when faced with a distraction. _But no, people have to huddle up in a corner, cower and wait to be eaten. _

Unfortunately, Faith is pulled out of her musings as she dodges a punch to the head. The vampire falls forward at the force and Faith takes advantage of his momentum by grabbing him and sending him flying into a nearby tree. She cringes as she hears wood splinter. The vamp gets up and tries to shake off the fuzziness in his head as he lunges forward again. Faith casually steps aside and he lands on the ground with a thud. She then walks over and crouches over him to plant a stake in his heart. She smiles at the shocked expression on his face as he disappears in a cloud of dust.

Faith walks over to the woman. "Are you alright?" She asks with concern as she helps the woman up.

"T...T...Th-" she stammers.

"That..." Faith says, helping the woman along.

"That was...was a-" the woman continues.

"That was a vampire," Faith says to clear any confusion the woman may have. The woman just nods in response. "Yeah, it's not really safe to be out at night," she warns. "Let me walk you back to your car," she offers. Another nod.

Once they reach the car, Faith turns to leave, but the woman reaches out and takes Faith's hand in her own and Faith turns to face her with a puzzled expression. "Thank you," the woman says sincerely.

Faith closes her eyes briefly to let the sound of the words wash over her. She opens her eyes and smiles. "No big. Just doing my job," she replies earnestly and the woman lets her go as Faith turns to walk off.

"Who are you?" The woman asks, trying to get a good look at her in the moonlight.

"I'm just a girl," Faith replies simply with a shrug of her shoulders. The woman just stands there watching Faith go. She shakes her head to clear it up before getting into her car and driving off.

Faith smiles with self satisfaction as she sets her keys down on a table when she walks in the door. She kicks off her shoes and flops down on the couch and drifts off to sleep with a smile plastered to her face.

Light filters into the room through the shades and lands on Faith's face. She reluctantly opens her eyes and squints at the bright sunlight. She covers her face with her hand, but pauses as she looks at a clock on the other side of the room.

"Oh shit!" She exclaims as she hauls ass to the shower to hopefully not be obscenely late for class.

Half an hour later, Faith hauls ass into her first period class, US History. "Hey," she says casually as she walks in. 

The teacher regards her for a moment. "You're my new student," he looks down at his role sheet, "Faith," he says, though it sounds more like a question.

"Yeah," she replies and the teacher motions for her to take a seat in the back and he continues on with class. Faith breathes a sigh of relief. _I need to get an alarm clock. _ She thinks glumly.


	4. The 'Rents

Faith finds herself on her way to Algebra 2, having found it in her best interest to at least **go** to class. She shows the teacher her schedule to prove that she's in the class, as if she'd want to show up on her free will.

The teacher glances at her strangely before looking toward the back of the room where Missy is seated, staring disinterestedly at her notebook. Faith smirks to herself before going to the seat next to her slaying counterpart.

"Hey," Faith says nonchalantly as she hurls herself into the desk next to Missy.

"Missy looks up with a startled expression, but relaxes as soon as she sees who it is. "Hey," she smiles back. "We still going to your place after school?" She asks with enthusiasm showing through.

"Of course. Well, unless you've got a problem with it," Faith replies, though it sounds more like a question than a statement.

"Nope. It's all good. I've got nothing planned," she replies with a grin as she goes back to her notebook. After a short pause, she looks over at Faith. "Can I ask you a question?" She asks.

"You just did," Faith smirks at her own 'cleverness', when she realizes that no one's laughing, she clears her throat. "Yeah. Shoot."

"Are we related or something? I mean, we'd have to be in order to look alike," Missy asks with her voice dropping. Faith quirks an eyebrow. "We are identical and the same age-"

"No. I'm older than you. I'm almost 20 and you just turned 16. I'm fairly certain that this is just some bizarre coincidence," Faith waves it off sounding more confident than she really is.

"Oh," is all Missy says as a reply. Faith takes notice of the slight hint of disappointment in her tone. "What about your parents? What do you know about them?" Missy asks as she turns her head to meet Faith's gaze.

Faith's expression darkens. "They're dead," she says in a deathly calm voice, but with malice still evident in her tone.

Missy is slightly taken back by the other Slayer's tone. However, it becomes apparent to her that the anger is directed toward Faith's parents...or Faith herself. "I'm sorry," she says sincerely.

"I'm not," Faith replies. Missy is about to further comment, but the teacher slams the door shut and walks into the classroom.

"Okay class," the teacher begins. "Today we are going to begin the section on imaginary numbers." Faith inwardly groans.

The last bell of the day rings, much to the delight of Faith, who leaps out of her seat with zeal. She walks across the hall to Missy's class and waits just inside the door. "Come on Miss," she says impatiently as she waits for Missy to finish packing up her things.

"Don't have a stroke. We have all afternoon," Missy says, deliberately slowing down her packing process. Faith just waits with a scowl on her face. "There. Now was that so hard?" She asks with a grin.

"Yeah. It was," Faith sneers back.

"What bug jumped up your ass?" Missy asks cautiously.

""Mr. Roberts, my bastard advanced chem teacher," she grumbles back. "He's such an asshole. He was getting all anal just because I was a couple minutes late for his lame ass class."

"Why don't just change your schedule or something?" Missy inquires. "I heard that Ms. Matos was cool and she never gives homework or anything," she grins.

"Good idea. I'll talk to Chuck tomorrow morning," Faith resolves. Missy gives her a strange expression. "Chuck, Principal Reynolds, whatever," she shrugs. 

""You're on a first name basis with the principal? It's only your second day," Missy chuckles. "I think that's a little sad, don't you?"

"Ha ha, you're a riot," Faith says while rolling her eyes. "Are we going or not?" She asks with frustration. Missy smirks and walks out the door with Faith right behind. They exit the school and head off toward Faith's car.

Faith moves her head to dodge a punch at the last minute and follows up with a kick to Missy's side. She then follows through on the kick to land a punch straight to Missy's jaw.

"Hey! Why aren't you throwing your punches?" Missy whines as she moves her jaw to make sure it still will move and brings her hand to the side of her face.

"I knew you were a smart one," Faith smirks at Missy's pout. She then rolls her hand and sighs. "You think some vamp will throw his punches just because you start whining?" She asks.

"No," Missy begins slowly. "But last time I checked, you weren't a vampire. You're stronger." Faith folds her arms with a bored expression. "Besides, we're just training. ," she gripes.

"Yeah, **training**," Faith stresses the word. "Training you to not get your ass kicked my some skanky vamp. Training you to handle yourself in the big, bad world," she teases as she throws another punch.

This time Missy ducks and turns to kick Faith in the side. However, Faith recovers quickly and catches her foot. Missy uses her momentum to do a back-flip out of Faith's grip and land on her feet.

"Wicked cool," Faith grins as she relaxes.

"Thanks, I do try," Missy smirks back.

Faith looks outside and sees the sun going down. "How about we go out and slay us some big bad vamps?" She says while trying to hold back her excitement.

"Hell yeah!" Missy says as she grabs her stuff.

"You're almost as enthusiastic as I am," Faith chuckles as she grabs her jacket and her stakes. They then haul ass downstairs to Faith's car.

"What's with the leather?" Missy finds herself asking and Faith gives her a confused expression. "It's, like, eighty degrees out and you're wearing leather, aren't you hot?" She asks.

Faith laughs out as they pull to a red light. "You ever get into it with a vamp with wicked sharp nails? Those bastards hurt," she explains and Missy still looks confused. "Leather is strong enough to prevent their claws from going through to the skin. I didn't start wearing it until I started slaying," she shrugs.

"Oh, I see," Missy says with a nod as they pull up to a cemetery.

"Okay, let's go," Faith says with a child-like grin.

Missy lands a hard kick to a vampires chest that sends the vampire flying back onto a tombstone. Faith sends hers flying into a nearby tree. They both stalk over to their respective targets and pick them up by the collars of their shirts. They shove them so that they are back to back and simultaneously ram their stakes through the undead hearts of the vampires causing both vampires to dust automatically.

"Cool," Missy says as she wipes the sweat off of her forehead and Faith looks over at her. "Synchronized slaying," she explains.

"New Olympic category?" Faith finds herself saying before she can stop herself. Memories of a similar conversation with Buffy floods her mind. Her smile quickly gives way to a miserable expression as she sinks down to lean against a tombstone and lay her head back on it.

"Hey, is everything okay?" Missy asks with concern. She gets no response. "Are you all right?" She asks more urgently. She still gets no response, so, she crouches in front of Faith to check for any head injuries. 

Faith quickly jerks away and gives Missy a dark expression. "I'm fine. What the fuck do you care anyways?" She grinds out as she gets up to walk away.

Missy quickly reaches out and grabs Faith by the wrist to turn her around. "I **do **care," she insists. "You can trust me," she says.

"That's just the thing, I can't trust you," Faith growls. "I can't trust you just like you can't trust me," she says with a shrug, the pain in her eyes undermining her apparent nonchalance.

"Yeah. Well, I **do **trust you," Missy says firmly.

"You shouldn't," Faith sneers. "I'll just end up screwing you over," she says as she goes to walk off again.

"You're good at walking away aren't you?" Missy says rhetorically as she catches up with Faith. "Whenever things get to hard, you just walk away and try to move on," she says.

"It must run in the family," Faith sneers as she remembers her parents.

"You're not your family and I'm not going to let you walk away this time. Whether you believe it or not, everything will catch up with you sooner or later. It already did once," Missy replies.

Faith stops dead in her tracks, still a few paces ahead of Missy, but she doesn't turn to face her. "Look, this was a mistake okay. I shouldn't have come here. I should be back in prison. I apologize if my presence has caused any permanent damage. Please, send me your future therapy bill if you live long enough to see one," she says.

"Faith, I already told you, I'm not letting you walk away. You hate your family for walking away, talking the easy way out. Yet, here you are, doing the same thing, becoming exactly what you hate about them. You can be better than them, you can show them that you are different," Missy says softly.

Faith visibly relaxes and she takes a deep, shuddering breath. "You're persistent," she observes, her resolve to leave fading away.

"I'm giving you another chance. The Council found you worth another chance and so do I," Missy replies.

"I guess I can stick around a little longer," she says calmly, but allowing a small amount of delight to sound through. They both pause a moment.

"So, about that ride home..." Missy trails off with a grin and Faith turns to face her with an eyebrow quirked up. "You cut your head," she observes. "I knew you must've hit it in order to freak out the way you did," she jokes and Faith rolls her eyes.

"I wasn't freaking out," Faith says as a feeble defense.

"Whatever you say," Missy says sarcastically. "You can come back to my house and I'll clean it up for you," she says.

"No. I'll be fine. Slayer healing, you know how it is," she explains with a shrug.

"You're going that way anyways," Missy notes Faith's confusion. "You honestly expect me to walk home?" She asks with a smirk.

"Fine, come on," Faith says while heaving an exaggerated sigh as they head off toward her car. "What about your family? I'm sure the last time they checked, they only had one of you," she inquires.

"My bother is practicing with his band at a friend's house and the 'rents went out of town or something," Missy states.

"Wicked awesome," Faith says.

They pull up to Missy's house and get out. "See, told you no one was home," Missy says as she points to the empty driveway.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," Faith scoffs. They walk up to the house and Missy unlocks the door and they go in. "You have an icepack or something?" She asks as she rubs her left hand.

"Yeah. But that's what you get for hitting that tree," Missy says while trying to hide her smirk.

"Was it my fault that the damned vamp ducked? Do I look like a mind reader?" Faith scowls as Missy flips on the light.

Missy pauses as if to think. "No, but the again, you really don't look much like a Slayer either," she grins. "You want some thing to drink?" She asks.

"No. If I don't look like a Slayer, then neither do you," Faith retorts as Missy pulls out an icepack and tosses it to Faith, who promptly catches it.

"Missy, honey, is that you?" A man's voice asks as he and a woman walk into the kitchen. Both the man and woman stop as they notice someone else in the room.

"Hey you guys. I thought you were out of town," Missy says nervously at Faith, who has her head down at her hand, her hair hiding her face, as she intends.

"Our trip got cancelled," the woman says. "So, who's this?" She asks, nodding towards Faith.

Faith lifts her head to look at the woman. They lock eyes and stare at one another. "This is my friend-"

"Faith," the woman says coldly, desperately trying to cover up her shock.

"What the...? Holy shit," Missy says as realization washes over her. 

"Mom," Faith says with the same icy tone and harsh glare.


	5. Family Ties or The 'Rents part 2

"So, Faith, how are you?" the woman says, her eyes cold.

"Fabulous, and you?" She grinds out, rhythmically clenching and unclenching her fists tightly. Her left hand starts to bleed from the pressure on her palm.

"Great. How was prison? I heard it was nice this time of year," she says as if talking about the weather and Faith begins to shake with rage. "Not that I'm surprised, I always knew that you were a more than a little fucked up," she says with a harsh grin.

"You bitch," Faith growls as she lunges at her. Missy reacts immediately by reaching out and grabbing Faith by the waist before she can reach her mother.

"You never told me that Cliff and I had a sister," Missy says accusatorily at her mother.

"She wasn't worth mentioning," she says with the same icy expression, her nose turned up at her oldest daughter.

Faith screws her eyes shut, warding off tears that the woman doesn't deserve. "I'm going to go now. I'll see you tomorrow Missy," she says slowly and calmly as she opens her eyes and looks only at Missy before turning on her heel and walking out.

"She sure has grown up," the man says lamely as the front door shuts.

"Yeah, she has," Missy spits out, throwing a glare at her mother. She grabs Faith's jacket and heads out the door after her. 

Faith gets out to her car and rests her hands on the side of the car door. "Damn it!" She in a shuddering breath as she bangs on the door, her body starting the wrack with sobs. Behind her, she hears the front door open, then close again. She doesn't bother to turn around, already knowing who it is.

"Hey," Missy says softly. "You, um, forgot your coat," she says, offering the item to her.

"Naturally. I can't even do the whole 'dramatic exit' thing right," Faith sighs with her attempt to lighten the mood.

"Faith, you told me that your parents were dead," Missy says, not accusingly, but as more of a question.

"I told you a lot of things," Faith replies, but then resigns herself with a sigh. "She's dead to me," she says after a moment. "She walked out of my life...twice and she's the reason that my father is dead. The last time she walked out of my life, I thought it was for good. That is when she died to me," she muses.

"Well, you're both back now. Maybe it's something that you can patch up between you two," Missy says hopefully.

"Some things can't be forgiven or forgotten. We clash and I accept that. I also accept that we can never be all right," Faith replies. "She never wanted me in her life. If that's the way it's got to be, then that's the way it is," she says with a shrug.

"She's your mother Faith," Missy tries to reason as she puts a hand on Faith's shoulder.

"Not anymore. She's your mother now. I haven't had one in a long time," Faith replies as she shrugs off Missy's hand. "That woman is just Rebecca to me. We have different last names and different lives," Faith sighs. She gets into the car and drives off towards her apartment. Missy watches Faith drive off before slowly turning to go back into her own house with a sigh.

"Is she gone?" Rebecca asks from the doorway to her bedroom as Missy enters the house.

"Yeah. Thanks to you," Missy growls. "What could she possibly have done to you if she was just, what, four years old? Huh?" She demands.

"She lived," Rebecca says callously as she turns and goes back into her room. Once she closes the door, she leans against it and slides down with her back resting against the door. She then starts to cry softly.

"What is her fucking problem?" Missy mumbles under her breath to no one in particular.

"Hey kiddo. You might want to sit down because there is a lot of stuff that you don't know," her dad says gently as he sits down on the couch next to where Missy is standing.

Faith pulls up to her apartment, closes her eyes and rests her head against the steering wheel. With a deep sigh, she found it in her to get up and walk up to her place. She enters her apartment and lets everything out. 

Faith leans back against her door and starts sobbing. She lets her rage build up and slams her fist into the wall next to her before setting her stuff down and going right back out to let off some steam.

"You're kidding right. Please tell me that you're kidding," Missy pleads with tears in her eyes.

"I'm afraid not sweetie," he says sympathetically. "Before your mother and I were married, she and I were having an affair behind her first husband's back. She got pregnant with Faith, then you and Cliff nearly five years later," he tells her.

"But why me then? Why doesn't Mom hate me like she does Faith?" She wonders angrily. "What could Faith have possibly done at four years old to piss Mom off to the point of hating her?"

"She just breathed honey. All Faith had to do was breath," he says, sadly shaking his head.

"Why didn't she come with you and Mom when you guys got married? She was your daughter too, why didn't you want her?" Missy asks with confusion.

"Oh, honey. I wanted...want her. Me not loving her was never an issue. Your mother was the one that had the problem with Faith," he explains.

"Why? She couldn't have done anything Dad," Missy says.

"She reminds her too much of her old husband and her old life. Having Faith around just reminded her of it. That and the fact that Faith is just like her last husband was. Both wild, carefree and had a fiery temper. Your mother always resented her for her spirit and energy," he says. 

"But Faith was only four when all this went down right? I mean, people can change in fifteen years," Missy says. "That's about as long as it's been right? Fifteen years?"

"Not exactly," he says uncomfortably.

"Mother." Punch. "Fucking." Kick. "Bitch." Punch. "Thinks that." Trip. "She can." Kick. "Treat." Duck. "Me like." Punch. "Shit just because." Kick. "She's my." Stake. "Mother." Poof. Faith sighs as she looks around the cemetery at the piles of dust. She puts her stake back into her jacket and wipes off her hand and dusts of her pants. Then, she turns around and walks out of the cemetery towards her apartment.

"What do you mean 'not exactly'?" Missy asks suspiciously.

"Well, do you remember when we were still living in Boston when you were eleven?" He asks and Missy nods slowly. "Faith had come by our house," he says.

"I don't remember that," Missy says with confusion.

"I don't imagine that you would," he tells her. "You were at school and Faith had already dropped out more than a month ago. She was all bloody and she was trying to hold back her tears," he says, trying to hold back his own tears.

"Oh my god," she murmurs. "What happened?"

"I was the one who answered the door and I saw her like that, so I let her in. Your mother came down and saw her. She froze in her steps and asked what she was doing there. Faith looked at her and said that she had no where else to go and that a friend of hers had just been killed," he says tearfully.

"What? Why didn't she go to her father or someone else?" She asks, wanting to add ' or her Watcher', but holding it in.

"Her father, her mother's first husband rather, had died nine years back. Faith was seven at the time. After that, she had bounced from foster home to foster home She didn't want to go to one of them," he states. "Anyways, your mother asks if Faith was the one who killed her friend. Faith looked at her and actually growled at her before saying that she would never kill anyone. She turned and walked out the door and that was the last we heard of her for a short while."

"How short of a while?" Missy asks.

"About a year and a half later, we got a letter from the Los Angeles Women's State Penitentiary saying that Faith had been convicted of murder in the first and several assault and battery charges. Since Faith wasn't even seventeen, they had to notify your mom and myself," he says while shaking his head.

"You guys didn't want Cliff and I to know about her because you thought we'd try and see her?" She wonders.

"That and we wanted to protect you from her," he says and Missy cocks her head to one side. "She has a long history of violence that goes back before she was incarcerated," he explains. "We didn't want to put you and your brother in danger."

"Faith isn't dangerous," she states with conviction. "She's been totally harmless since I met her," she says.

"How long ago did you meet her?" He asks skeptically.

"Yesterday," she mumbles back. "But she's passive and hasn't tried anything," she defends. "I trust her completely."

Faith steps back into her apartment and takes off her jacket. She hisses with pain as she pulls it off of her left hand having forgotten smashing it up. Then she goes into the bathroom and washes her hand off with warm water. She turns off the faucet and looks up into the mirror.

"God I hate that woman," Faith mumbles to herself as she stares into her eyes in the mirror. "Shit, it's too late to be trying to do the whole 'soul searching' thing," she says as she flips off the light and drags herself to her bed.

"We should do something Dad," Missy says with determination.

"Do what about what sweetie?" He asks.

"We should get Faith and Mom to talk things out you know. It's never too late," she says.

"They do need to work things out, but I don't know if they'll want to," he says sadly.

"They have a lot to work out. There is obviously a lot between them that needs to be resolved," she says.

"I'll speak to your mother about it. Good night Missy," he says. He turns around before he gets to the stairs. "You can call Faith up and ask her if you like," he says as somewhat of an afterthought.

"Yeah," she says with a smile. He nods and goes upstairs. Missy leans over and picks up the phone and dials Faith's number.

"Fuck off," is the tired, mumbled response on Faith's end of the line.

"Faith, it's me," Missy says apprehensively. Faith grunts and Missy takes it as a cue to continue. "Look, I know that there is a lot of stuff that you need to deal with when it comes to your...our mom. I was wondering if maybe you would want to try and resolve it tomorrow?" She asks, mentally crossing her fingers. There is a pause on the other end and Missy begins to worry that Faith has fallen asleep. "Faith?" She asks.

"I heard you," Faith says softly. There is another pause. "Yeah, I'll do it. There's some shit I need to says to her too," she says darkly.

"That's good that you want to talk," Missy says, smiling despite Faith's choice of wording it.

"But I guarantee that this won't end in hugs and puppies," Faith comments. "I got to go," she says. 

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow," Missy says with a self-satisfied grin as she hangs up.

"Missy," her dad calls and Missy looks up. "Your mother agreed to talk to Faith tomorrow.

"This is good, right?" Missy says, doubt creeping into her face. Her father just nods, not completely sure whether or not this will work according to plan. He goes back into his room as Missy makes her way up to hers.

"This will either begin to patch things up, or widen the rift between them. I hope that this is the right thing," she mumbles to herself.


	6. Enemies: It's a Family Thing

"Hey Faith. How's it going?" Missy asks as she jogs to catch up with her sister.

"Been better," Faith mumbles. "I don't think that it's a good idea for me to talk to that woman," she says with a scowl.

"That woman is your mother. I think that it's in your best interest to at least tell her how pissed off you are at her," Missy says. "Besides, it's too late to turn back now. You're already expected over later."

"Yeah," Faith sighs. "I just really want to avoid any contact with her. I'm not looking to share and learn and grow," she says.

"You can't just let your problems fester like that Faith," Missy says.

"Yeah. Whatever, I've got to get to class," Faith responds as she takes off and stalks into her first class and throws herself into the desk in the back. Then, she looks around at her advanced chemistry class, almost having completely forgotten that she had it changed.

"Hi, I'm Torrance," a perky blonde introduces herself. Faith looks at the blonde, then the offered hand before reluctantly reaching over and shaking it. "You're Missy right?" She asks, proud at having recognized the girl.

"No," Faith responds and Torrance looks at her with confusion. "I'm her older sister Faith," she explains.

"Right," Torrance says, trying to see how the two are not identical. "I can sort of see a difference," she says.

"Oh yeah?" Faith asks with some amusement. "What kind of difference?" She asks despite herself.

"It's just the way you act. You act differently and have different mannerisms and stuff," Torrance replies. She then clears her throat, slightly embarrassed. "So, how much older are you than Missy?" She asks.

"About four years," Faith says with a shrug. "But I've only known her for a couple of days," she continues.

"Four years, that would make you almost twenty," Torrance says with skepticism. "And how could you have only known her for a couple of day?" She asks.

"It's a long, complicated, Jerry Springer type situation and it is purely by coincidence that we ended up transferring to the same school," Faith says with a shrug.

"Oh, I see," Torrance says. "If you see her today could you tell her that I am really sorry how the other girls acted the other day at cheerleading auditions?" She asks hopefully.

"Yeah. They did bash on her a lot didn't they," Faith observes.

"You were there?" Torrance asks with surprise. "But I didn't see you," she says.

"I know. Missy didn't even know I was there until we ran into each other in the hall as she stormed out," Faith says dramatically, causing Torrance to giggle. "Besides, I think that Missy is overqualified anyways," she jokes.

"And what about you?" She retorts and Faith quirks an eyebrow. "Are you overqualified also?" She asks with challenge in her tone.

"I would blow Missy out of the water," Faith responds without a second thought. "I have more experience and skill. It would be no contest. I think that it must run in the family," she covers.

"So that means that you won't cheer either huh?" Torrance teases.

"No. I'm not exactly the cheering type," Faith retorts. Before Torrance has a chance to make a comeback, the bell rings and the class starts. Faith inwardly groans. _This is going to be a long day._

"Are you ready?" Missy asks as she walks up to Faith in the school parking lot.

"As ready as I'll ever be," she mumbles back. "I can't believe I'm going to do this. I don't think I'm ready to do this. Can I just drop you off and then go home?" She asks hopefully.

"Sorry, but no. You're going to have to do it more sooner than later," Missy states.

"Fine. Come on, let's go," Faith relents with a frown. They get into the car and speed off.

They pull up to Missy's house and get out. "This is so not a good idea," Faith mumbles. "I hope you put a drop cloth down in case there's bloodshed," she says seriously.

Missy smiles slightly. "It will be okay Faith. I promise that you will be fine," she reassures.

"Okay," Faith breathes out. "Let's go," she says as she and Missy walk in the door.

"Mom, Dad, Faith and I are here," Missy calls out into the house.

**__**

Upstairs-5 minutes ago:

"Robert, I can't do this," Rebecca says to her husband. "I can't go down there and talk to her. What could we possibly have to say to one another that won't end up leading to blows?"

"You and Faith need to clear the air between the two of you," he reasons.

"There is no air that needs clearing between us. We are perfectly content with hating each other," she says firmly.

"I know that you cannot honestly believe that," he says and she stays silent. "She's our daughter!" He yells. "You need to talk to her, you owe her that much at least."

" I'll talk to her but she had better not try to attack me, like last time," she warns.

"I would've attacked you too if you had said that to me," Robert tells her. 

Rebecca opens her mouth to reply, but is cut off. "Mom, Dad, Faith and I are here," they hear Missy call from downstairs. Sullenly, the couple makes their way down the stairs to the two girls.

"Faith," the woman says tentatively toward her estranged daughter. 

Faith notices her unsure tone and feels more in control than she did moments ago. "Rebecca," she says in acknowledgement of her mother.

Rebecca winces slightly at Faith's impassive tone and impersonal use of her first name. "I'm glad that you came," she says quietly.

"You are?" Faith asks, obviously shocked. "I mean, why? So that you can dig into me even more?" She asks, her anger flaring slightly, though she isn't sure as to why.

"No, but right now it's seeming like a good idea," she yells back. "I knew that it would be pointless to talk to a loser like you," she states. "I should've known that you hadn't changed, that you can't change."

"Shut up!" Faith shouts. "I have changed because if this had happened three years ago, they would be dragging a lake to find your ass," she growls menacingly.

"I appreciate the fucking sentiment, but I think that I can take you. I've done it before, I can do it again," she says.

"That's fabulous fucking parenting. Now I have an excuse to give to my shrink," she spits.

"No Faith, you're wrong. I didn't fuck you up, you were fucked up enough on your own. I'm glad that your worthlessness helped you become the psychopath that you are today," she remarks snidely.

"I'm sure that you had fun helping that evolve," Faith sneers.

"So what, you're going to try pinning all of your goddamned issues on my 'excellent parenting skills'? I wasn't there when you gutted those people in Sunnydale. I wasn't the one holding the knife. I didn't put you in a coma or make you walk into the police station. It is all on you," Rebecca defends.

"Well, that's the problem isn't it?" Faith asks, near tears. "You weren't there. You were never there. Maybe if you had been, then-"

"Then what? You wouldn't have done any of it? Maybe I would've been the one to guide you to the ways of goodness and light?" She scoffs.

"No. But maybe Dad wouldn't have shot himself, maybe I wouldn't have had to see my best friend killed and maybe I wouldn't have had to run away to California," Faith says while trying to choke down her emotions. "Everything would've been different and none of this wouldn't have happened. Everyone would be..." Faith pauses, trying to find the right word.

"Happy?" Rebecca interjects softly, her eyes starting to tear up too.

"Yeah," Faith answers slowly. She glances towards the door, contemplating on whether or not she should make her exit now. She turns and takes a step, but turns around and faces her mother. "Just answer something for me," she pauses, waiting to hear an objection. When she hears none, she continues. "Why didn't..." she wipes her eyes and waits until she can trust her voice. "Why didn't you want me?" She asks in a small, child-like voice. 


	7. The Fun Keeps on Coming

A/N: I am so unbelievably sorry that this took so long. I had testing and stuff. Next chapter will not take as long, I swear.

It wasn't that I didn't want you it was just that you were so much like **him**," she says harshly.

"I was four!" Faith shouts. "You were never home anyways. You were always off fucking your latest boy toy," she fumes. "How could you do that to Dad, he loved us?"

"No, he loved **you**! The man never gave me a second glance because he was too busy with everything else," Rebecca spits. "Why are you taking his side anyways, it's not like he's your real father?" She asks. 

Faith's face falls and she sucks in a deep breath. "What are you taking about?" She asks shakily. "Of course he was my father, right?" She asks, turning to acknowledge Missy for the first time. Missy stares at her like a deer caught in the headlights and Faith turns back to her mother. "Oh my god, you've been lying to me this whole time," she says incredulously.

"Me? You were living with him, he was the one that should've told you," she growls back.

"He was too busy blowing his fucking head off to tell me, how insensitive of him," Faith snaps. "If he wasn't my real father, then why did he get custody in the first place?" She asks angrily.

"I had just left him and the courts found that I wasn't stable enough to care for you yet," Rebecca mumbles.

"You must've been pretty un-fucking-stable in order for them to put me in foster-care when I was five," Faith states as she finally goes to walk out the door. "You have no idea how it feels to be so unwanted," she says before she slams the door shut, with all her slayer might, causing the door to splinter slightly. Missy winces at the force.

Rebecca sinks down onto the couch and puts her head in her hands. "This is all just too much right now," she sobs into her hands.

Robert comes over to comfort his wife. "Shh, it's going to be okay. She just needs time to cool off. This has all been a lot to take in for the both of you," he says in soothing tones.

Missy looks out the window and watches Faith leave. She heaves a sigh and looks at her sobbing mother and her father trying to comfort her. "I need to go get some air," she says, but they make no sign that they'd heard her. She walks out the door and walks into Cliff.

"Hey sis, where are you headed?" He asks curiously as he follows her down the driveway.

"I need to get out of there for a while," she says and nods towards the inside of the house.

He looks towards the house and looks a little lost in thought before he suddenly brightens up. "Hey, there's a football game tonight!" He exclaims cheerfully.

"So?" Missy asks as she continues walking.

"Why don't we go? It'll be fun. We can make fun of the cheerleader's intelligence and mock the crappy playing abilities of the football players," he says.

"You just want to go because of a certain cheerleader named Torrance, don't you?" She asks with a small grin. He looks down sheepishly and nods. Missy just laughs good-naturedly at him and lightly punches him in the arm.

"Ow," he whines, holding his arm at the same place she just hit it. "I just don't get how you can hit so hard all the time," he pouts.

Faith walks through the stands at the school's football stadium as the other students really start piling in. She feels a tingle run up her spine and turns around just in time to spot Missy and her brother before he can spot her.

She runs off in the same direction she came and ends up mowing down one of the cheerleaders, a blonde. _Just like old times. _She muses sarcastically to herself. Reluctantly, Faith offers her hand to help the blonde up.

"Oh shit, it's you again," the blonde says bitchily.

"Hey Courtney," Faith smirks. "You're lucky that your ass broke your fall," she says before trying to walk off.

"Bite me," Courtney mutters to herself. "You're not staying for the game?" She finds herself asking as she sees Faith walk off. She immediately mentally smacks herself.

"No, I', not. But my sister is sticking around so you can probably torment her later," Faith replies.

"But I'd rather torment you. She doesn't even try to fight back," Courtney whines, but Faith is already gone. She just shrugs and walks to the field where the others were just starting to take their places.

In the stands, Missy tell Faith was here and is leaving the area. She sighs knowing that Faith is avoiding her.

"What's wrong Miss?" Cliff asks, putting his arm casually around her shoulder.

"It's complicated," she says slowly before she pushes his arm off of her shoulder. "We'll talk about it later if it's okay," she says.

"Yeah. Of course," he says seriously as he eyes her carefully.

Hours later Faith is walking slowly through a nearby park. She finally gets bored looking for some action and sits down on a bench. Soon, she picks up a stick and starts drawing in the dirt.

All of a sudden, she feels all of the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and she is on her feet facing her opponent, the stick is pointed menacingly at them.

"Chill Faith, paranoid much?" Torrance asks with a shaky smile.

"Sorry," she apologizes lamely as she chucks the stick to one side.

"It's okay. The park can get pretty creepy late at night," Torrance says as she steps closer to Faith. "Everyone says that there are vampires that lurk out here at night," she whispers as if telling her a secret. Torrance then gives Faith a small smile.

"I wasn't scared," Faith counters. "I just thought that I was alone, that's all." Torrance quirks an eyebrow. "And second of all, vampires? Come on," she says with a big grin as she slowly starts walking.

Torrance comes up next to her and begins to walk in step. "Yep, vampires. Everyone says that they're out here and to be very careful. But don't worry, I'll protect you," Torrance says with mock bravery. Faith can't help but start laughing. "What?" Torrance asks, slightly hurt at Faith's outburst.

"_You _protect _me_?" Faith asks, still chuckling. 

Torrance scowls at her until Faith stops laughing and shoves her out of the way. "Hey, what's going on?" She asks as she gets up and watches as Faith fights someone with a severely jacked-up looking face. She watches in awe as Faith does a back flip off of a tree and ends up behind her opponent. Torrance is mesmerized when Faith breaks a stick off of a nearby tree and shoves it into this guy's chest. "Faith, what the-" she stops when the guy turns to dust and disappears. "-hell?" She finishes quietly. 

A startled Faith turns and sees Torrance as if she had forgotten that she was there in the first place. "That was a vampire," she says softly as she goes over to her. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to shove you as hard as I did but-"

"You saved me from a vampire?" Torrance asks in a daze. 

Faith nods. "Do I need to take you to the hospital? Are you hurt?" She asks again, thinking that she's gone into shock.

"No, I'm fine," she replies after a minute. "What about you? I mean, out of nowhere you were all kicking and hitting and jumping. Didn't he hurt you?" She asks, looking Faith over.

"I'm fine. Nothing I can't handle," Faith says with a grin.

"Yeah?" Torrance asks and Faith nods. "Your hand is bleeding and you have a cut on your forehead," she says.

"Faith reaches up and touches her forehead. When she pulls her hand back it's covered in blood. "It probably just looks worse than it is. I did this to my hand earlier," she shrugs. "Look, I'll be fine by tomorrow, I promise," she says, giving Torrance a winning smile

"I don't believe you," Torrance says indignantly while crossing her arms.

"I'm not asking you to believe me, I'm _telling _you that I will be fine," Faith says. "Now which way is your house?" She asks.

"What?" Torrance asks with the surprise evident in her voice.

"I'm making sure that you get to your house so that I can sleep soundly knowing that you aren't getting your neck ripped out by some vampire," she explains.

"What about you?" She asks.

What about me?" Faith asks with confusion.

"How do I know that you won't get attacked by another one of those things?" Torrance asks worriedly.

"You don't, but I think it's a little obvious that I know how to handle them," she replies.

"Well, you might pass out or go into a coma or something because of your head injury. I'm not letting you go home alone," she states.

"You can't walk me home because then I won't know if you got back safely or not," Faith says.

"Then I'll stay with you tonight," Torrance resolves.

"You won't leave me alone until I give in will you?" Faith asks, trying to hold back a smile. Torrance shakes her head. "Come on then," she says as they start off towards Faith's apartment.

"So Missy, what's going on?" Cliff asks as he and his sister walk back to their house.

She sighs. "I don't know how to tell it to you yet," she mumbles.

"It's okay, just take all the time that you need," he says.

"Thanks Cliff," she says as she gently squeezes his arm.

When they walk in the house, Robert and Rebecca are sitting in the living room. "Hey Mom, Dad," Cliff says. He notices their somber expressions. "What is it?" He asks.

"Cliff, sit down. There's something your mother and I have to tell you," Robert says.

"Sure Dad," he says cautiously. He looks nervously at his sister and realizes that he's about to find out what Missy was trying to tell him.

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How will Cliff react to the news of having another sister? How will Torrance react to finding out that Faith is a slayer? What obstacle will try and threaten Faith's second chance? Find out next time (which won't take as long to write, I promise).


	8. The Truth Hurts

"How did you do that?" Torrance asks after a few moments of silence lapse between them on the way to Faith's apartment.

"Do what?" Faith asks with confusion as they approach her building.

"With the fighting and stuff. It was incredible. Where did you learn to fight like that?" She asks again.

"I never had to learn it. It is just something I was born to do. Like I job I guess," she replies while shrugging her shoulders.

"Your job is to kill vampires?" Torrance asks with confusion as Faith unlocks her door.

"Yeah," Faith lets out a nervous laugh as they walk in. "Vampires and demons and other sources of supernatural evil," she says nervously as she notices all the weapons strewn across the floor.

"You're really serious about this killer stuff aren't you?" She asks as her eyes grow wide at the arsenal laid before her.

"Not killing stuff....slaying stuff," Faith explains as she picks up a sword and crossbow. "You kill people, you slay forces of evil," she says, staring at her reflection in the sword.

"What's wrong?" Torrance asks as Faith becomes silent.

"People still get hurt," Faith says wit a sigh as she puts the sword away. "They'll find a way to get caught in the crossfire. You know? Just get in the way."

"You killed someone?" Torrance asks, though it is more of a statement.

Faith is silent for a moment and Torrance doesn't think that she'll answer. "Yeah, four years ago I killed someone," she says and she sits heavily on the couch. "It was one of those times where your brain is telling you to do one thing, but your body does another," she explains.

"I understand that. Doing something against your better judgment," Torrance replies as she sits next to Faith.

"Me and the other slayer were fighting a pack of vampires. We dusted them all, but I was still high of the adrenaline. Some guy jumped out of nowhere, I lunged before I realized he was human. When I did, it was too late," she says quietly.

"So what happened after that? Did you go to prison?" Torrance asks. Faith doesn't make a move to reply as she stares into the far corner of the room. Torrance places her hand comfortingly on Faith's thigh.

Faith looks up and over at Torrance. "No. They had no evidence to hold either of us, so we walked. I just pretended not to care, to blow it off as just something shitty that happened. I didn't let the other slayer or her friends try to help," she chuckles self-deprecatingly. "I even tried choking one of them to death. I really fucked them all over by switching sides and teaming with the bad guys," she feels the tears burning in her eyes.

"You were confused Faith, that's a lot to take in at one time," Torrance says.

Faith stands up abruptly. "I shouldn't have told you all of this," she says as she starts to pace.

Torrance stands up to, a little angry. "Sounds like you needed to tell somebody. I think that you took it harder than you think because you're crying now," she says firmly.

"It's something that keeps eating away at me and that's how it should be," Faith replies. "No one else should have to deal with it because it's my problem!"

"How can you say that?" Torrance asks agitatedly.

"Because after I turned, I tried to kill each of Buffy's friends at one point or another. I held one at knife point and tried to choke the other. I shot her boyfriend with a poisoned arrow that almost killed him. She and I had a showdown, but we were pretty evenly matched. She managed to stick me with _my _knife. I just gave up and dove off the top-story balcony," she rambles.

"You jumped off a balcony?" Torrance asks, for lack of a better response.

"I was in a coma for 8 months. First thing I did was hunt them down again. I switched bodies with Buffy and shook her life up. When it backfired, I ran. She caught up with me in L.A. I ended up going to the cops after my second chance there was shot down. I confessed everything," she finishes.

"Wow, Faith. You've come a long way," Torrance says softly.

"No I haven't. They couldn't even hold me on the murder charges due to lack of evidence. I was only in prison for theft and a few assault and battery charges. I got out early because of Slayer-related issues, but it was only 8 months early."

"You didn't have to go to the police. You could have ran again, but you didn't. That shows that you were willing to take responsibility," Torrance says as she walks over to Faith.

Faith just scoffs. "Right," she says sarcastically. Torrance comes up to her and puts her hands on either side of Faith's face. She starts to kiss her and, after a moment, Faith starts kissing back. Suddenly, Faith pulls away. "I can't do this. I think that you should leave," she says, unable to look at Torrance.

Torrance stands still a moment longer, slightly dazed, before nodding. "Okay," she says slowly as she walks out the door. Seconds later, Faith is out the door too to make sure Torrance gets home all right. 

She starts creeping through the park when she feels a shiver run through her back, like pins-and-needles. She stands up straight and listens around her for whatever is near. All of a sudden, she finds herself surrounded by seven vampires. 

They jump her all at once, but Faith instinctually jumps out of the way. The vampires all collide, but they're up in no time. Faith reaches in her jacket for a stake, but finds herself unarmed. Instead, she takes a branch off a nearby tree and jumps into the fray.

"So, what's up?" Cliff asks apprehensively as he takes a seat.

"There's something that your mother and I need to tell you," Robert says. "It's kind of complicated, so bear with us," she continues as Missy takes a seat next to Cliff.

"Okay," Rebecca says as she takes a deep breath. "I was married once before your father," Cliff just nods. "His name was Richard and I was in a miserable marriage and had a major drinking problem. While I was with him, I met your father and began to have an affair with him," she says.

"Okay, then what happened?" Cliff asks.

"Well, I got pregnant by your father. My husband at the time didn't have any idea that I was having an affair with your dad," she says.

"Could your ex-husband tell that Miss and I weren't his?" Cliff asks.

"The thing is, I hadn't given birth to you or Missy at the end of my pregnancy. I gave birth to a baby girl, Faith," she says with her voice shaking. "I stayed married to my husband and as Faith started growing up, she started to act like him. He was her hero. I didn't like Richard and I didn't like Faith acting like him. So, sometimes when I got really drunk, I would just start hitting her, taking everything out on her," she says with tears in her eyes.

"We had a sister?" He asks.

"We have a sister," Missy clears up for him.

"What happened to her?" He asks interestedly.

"I stayed married to Richard for three years after her birth. I got a divorce just after finding out I was pregnant by Robert again. The court found me an unfit mother and gave full custody to Richard," she says.

"What happened to Faith?" Cliff asks.

"She was just screwed up," Rebecca says, shaking her head, knowing she was to blame. "I got into an argument with Richard a few years after our divorce. That's when I told him that he wasn't Faith's father. The news killed him, then he killed himself. Faith found his body when she got home from school one day," she says, taking a shuddering breath.

"You didn't tell me that," Missy accuses.

"Oh my god. Poor Faith," Cliff says quietly to himself. "Where is she now?" He asks.

"Well, after that, she bounced from foster home to foster home for about six years. Then, she showed up on your father and my doorstep, covered in blood, you guys were just 11 years old then. I refused to help her and I heard nothing from her for a year. I found out that she was in a fight and ended up in a coma in California after jumping off a roof. Almost a year after that, I found out that she went to prison for murder. I haven't heard from her since then," she sighs.

"Until now," Robert adds, drawing Cliff's attention to him. "She's here, in San Diego. Your sister met her your first day here. Faith and your mother butted heads earlier," he says.

"We have an older sister?" Cliff asks rhetorically and quietly to himself. "God, why didn't you tell us sooner? Why did you have to hide this from us for so long? You wouldn't have told us unless we ran into her ourselves, which Missy already did!" He shouts at them

"Cliff, I-" Rebecca begins.

"You should have told us about Faith. We had a right to know," he says as he gets up and goes up to his room.

Moments later, there's a knock at his door. "Cliff, it's me," Missy says.

"Come in," he mumbles.

She comes in and takes a seat. "You don't understand why they never told us," she tells him.

"Whatever it is, it isn't a good enough reason," he declares.

"They were trying to protect us Clifford," Missy says sternly. "They thought that she was a danger to us, especially after the murder. We were twelve years old. Would you want to tell your kids that they have a long, lost homicidal sister?" She asks.

"No, I guess not. But what about before that? With the coma and when she showed up all bloody. Why didn't they tell us then?" He asks.

"First of all, those are crappy circumstances to introduce siblings. Second, she was in a fight that put her in a coma and she was in a fight that got her all bloody. She had a violent past and they didn't want us to know about her," she concludes.

"I still wish that I'd known," he sighs as he lays back on his bed. "What's she like?" He asks her.

Missy smiles. "Just like me actually," she says. "She's really guarded, she's never really had anyone that she could trust, you know. Faith has been through a lot and she's reluctant to share the details with anyone, especially the family that abandoned her," Missy says.

"You need to stop reading 'Dear Abby'," Cliff jokes.

Faith limps into her apartment and throws her keys and jacket onto the floor next to the door. She gets to the kitchen and pulls out an icepack and holds it to her jaw. Then, she goes back into the living room and lays on the couch, disregarding the blood getting on it. After she gets comfortable enough to breath again, there's a pounding. At first, she thinks it's just her head, but she soon realizes that it's the door.

Reluctantly, she gets up and goes to answer it. Faith gets to the door and opens it. After opening the door, she turns away towards the couch again, not seeing who it is.

"Nice place you have here," the visitor sneers. Faith immediately stiffens as she hears it. Faith slowly turns around and the person flips the light switch in the darkened room. Faith squints at the light and takes on a defensive position, which looks pathetic with her nursing her left arm, covered in blood and bruises. "You look like shit," they say with surprise.

"Could this night get any worse?" Faith asks herself angrily. "How's it going Buff? If you came here to kill me, do it fast with a blunt object. I have a baseball bat in the closet if you want."

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I am impossibly sorry that this took so long. I have been sick for the longest time and I was in the hospital for about a week because of it. I swear to you that I would have gotten this out sooner if I could have. 


	9. Confrontation

A/N: Okay, is chapter took so long because I kept revising it. Also, it's a little long (but seemed longer while writing it). It would have been longer, but I just wanted to post this much now.

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Buffy walks into the living room and stands face to face with Faith, who doesn't even flinch. "Don't tempt me," she hisses.

"Why are you here B? If it's o make my life even worse, you have a long ass line to wait in," Faith replies as she takes a step back and goes to lie back down on the couch.

"The question isn't why I'm here, but why **_you _**are. Last time I checked, you were looking for 'redemption' in prison. I know that you haven't finished repenting for all the shit you pulled," she sneers.

"This doesn't even involve you, okay?" Faith shouts. "I know it must be a massive shock to your system to find that the world doesn't revolve around you, but it's true. I didn't get out to prove something to you or anyone. I got out because I have a duty."

"So did you break out of prison to find a brand new group of people to torment?" Buffy asks condescendingly.

Faith winces at her words. "My being out is totally legit Buff. The Council got me out about a week ago," she softly explains.

"The Council?" Buffy laughs incredulously. "Yeah right, and I'm Mary Poppins."

"Nice meeting you. I always wanted to meet a celebrity," Faith responds dryly.

Buffy's expression falters. "Tell me then, why would the Council get you out of prison. Surely not the pleasure of your company."

"As it turns out, your favorite Slayer died from her swan dive off the rooftop and a brand spanking new Slayer was called," Faith informs her from her position on the couch.

"Oh, I get it. You came to harass the new Slayer then, to make her and her Watcher's life a living hell," Buffy says.

"She didn't have a Watcher up until a week ago. She's had to rely on instinct and has been less than receptive of any Watchers. But, as for her Watcher, her life already is a living hell," she says.

"Oh yeah?" Buffy scoffs. "How would you know?"

"Because you're looking at her," she replies and Buffy gapes at her. "The guy from the Council said that, had I not gone Jekyll and Hyde on everyone, I would have been the most productive Slayer to date," she says with a self-deprecating scoff.

"**_You_** are a Watcher?" Buffy finally says. "How unbalanced is she that they have to rely on the psychotic Slayer from hell to get her to cooperate?" She scowls.

"B look, I know that we hate each other okay? I don't need you here to tell me how much I fucked things up before. I know I did a lot of bad shit, shit that can never be forgiven. I do **_not _**need you by my side constantly to tell me about it, okay?"

"I don't know that I can trust you to stay out of my life for good. You've done it to me before and I won't let you do it again," Buffy states.

"I did not try to track you down when I got out of prison. I am not going to follow you home and start stalking you and torturing your friends okay? I just want you to lay off. I don't bother you and you don't bother me, got it?" Faith grinds out.

"I came so that we can just get this over with, I don't want to go home and constantly watch my back for fear of you stabbing me in it…again," she says darkly.

"There are more important things in my life than you and your stupid friends. I have enough stuff to deal with on my own and I am not quite dumb enough to further complicate my life. You are no longer a priority and I can honestly say that I wouldn't lose any sleep if I never saw you again," Faith tells her.

"There is nothing in your life worth any importance. Do you think this Watcher thing will actually last? You think that being the Slayer actually makes any difference in your life? New flash Faith: you are not **_the _**Slayer, you are **_a _**Slayer. You are just a back-up. You are just a mistake of the Powers-That-Be," Buffy sneers.

"I don't give a shit what you think. It is none of your god-damned business what happens in my life," she says as she stands up. "You can think what you want and I'll let you come up with your own conclusions, but I want you to leave," Faith commands. She limps off towards the bathroom, signifying the end of the conversation.

Buffy maintains her position with a pensive expression on her face. She heaves a heavy sigh, promising herself to resolve her issues with Faith. Dejectedly, she walks over to the door to see Faith's jacket lying crumpled on the floor. She picks it up and has a bad feeling settle in the pit of her stomach as she sees blood pooling around where it had lay moments ago. Suddenly, there is a crash in the bathroom.

"Faith?" Buffy calls, her voice laced with worry. There is no answer. "Faith?" She calls out again, more urgently. Still no answer. She goes to the door and knocks lightly. "Are you all right in there?" She asks, again with no response. Then, she tries opening the door. Seeing that it's locked, Buffy kicks the door down to reveal Faith laying crumpled on the floor laying in a pool of blood. Buffy gasps as she goes to Faith's side. 

She reaches in her pocket for her cell phone and dials. "Hello, 9-1-1..."

"I think something's wrong Cliff," Missy says to her brother with a worried expression on her face.

"What?" He asks, looking up from his report. "Are you okay?" He asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she says and a look of relief watches over his face. "But I don't think that Faith is," she continues. She climbs off his bed and bolts downstairs before he even has a chance to reply.

"Where do you think you're going young lady?" Her father asks as she gets her hand on the doorknob to the front door.

"I need to go see Faith," she says carefully as she goes to exit the house again. Robert quirks a brow. "I think something bad happened to her," she explains.

"Missy, don't you think that if anything happened to her, she would give you a call?" He asks rationally.

"Yeah, I guess so," she relents. As if on cue, the phone rings and Missy hesitantly picks it up while glancing at her dad, who just shrugs. "Hello?" She answers with apprehension.

"Uh, hi. Is this Missy…Pantone?" The other person asks uncertainly, as if reading the name from a piece of paper.

"Yeah, who is this?" She asks with equal uneasiness.

"I'm Buffy Summers, an old frie- an old aquaintance of Faith's," Buffy says. "I found your number in her jacket," she says.

"Oh, okay," Missy says, trying to size up the situation. "Is everything all right? Did something happen to Faith?" She asks.

"Yeah. She is in the emergency room at Mercy Hospital," Buffy responds.

"Holy shit. What happened?" Missy asks as she frantically grabs for her keys.

"She got into some kind of fight. When I went to see her, she was all covered in blood. She went to her bathroom to clean up. There was a crash and when I got into the bathroom, she was unconscious on the floor," she spews out in one breath.

"I'll be right there," she says as she hangs up and goes to leave.

"What happened?" Robert asks with concern.

"Faith got into some kind of fight with vamp-gang members. She got hurt and I'm going to go check up on her," she says. She leaves without waiting for his response.

Missy runs to the front desk of the hospital. "Hello, I am looking for Faith Por-"

"You're Missy?" Buffy asks, cutting her off from finishing her question.

"Uh, yeah," Missy turns around just as Buffy faces away from her, missing Missy's face. "Where's Faith at?" Missy asks the back of Buffy's head.

"This way," Buffy says, continuing to look straight ahead.

""Who are you anyways?" Missy asks bluntly as she eyes the blonde.

Buffy whips around to face her. She gasps as she gets a look at Missy. " You guys are identical," she murmurs.

"Yeah. How perceptive," Missy says sarcastically. "Now, who are you?" She asks again.

Buffy takes a moment to shake herself out of her state of confusion. "I knew Faith back in Sunnydale," she says awkwardly.

"Oh, so **_you're _**Buffy, the other other Slayer," Missy says, grinning conspiratorially.

"How did you…you're the Slayer she's in charge of," Buffy sputters. "Are the two of you related or is this just some weird coincidence?" She asks.

"She's my older sister," Missy says simply, shifting her eyes away from Buffy.

"I didn't know her last name was Pantone," she says simply under her breath as they enter Faith's room.

"That's because it isn't B," Faith says warily. She smiles at Missy and has an inscrutable expression directed at Buffy.

"Hey Faith. How are you?" Missy asks with concern. "What happened?"

"Just got jumped. I took care of them. They were just lucky enough to get a couple lucky shots in. I took them out and now I'm fine," she says, gritting out the last part and glaring at Buffy. "In fact, I'm ready to leave. This was nothing worth going to the hospital for in the first place," she growls.

"You passed out Faith," Buffy says defensively. "What did you expect me to do? Leave you?" She asks incredulously.

"It's not like it would be the first time!" Faith shouts. She gets up out of the bed, fully clothed. "I would have been just fine and been up and around again in no time. I had just got a little light headed is all. It's not like it had never happened before," she says as she puts her shoes on.

"That doesn't make it any more safe," Buffy says. "I ended up in the hospital the last time that happened to me," she says.

"Well, I'm not you, am I?" Faith asks rhetorically as she goes to walk out the door.

"You can't just walk out of the hospital," Missy reasons.

"It's not like they're going to arrest me," Faith snaps. "They can't take me back to prison for refusing to stay in their lovely establishment. I think I've spent enough time in the hospital, but thank you anyways," she says, referring to her coma.

"You are not going to blame that on me," Buffy states firmly. "I have already spent more than enough time feeling guilty about that. I thought things would wotk out when you woke up. Boy was I wrong. You just picked up where we left off," Buffy says with exasperation.

"You know what, I never blamed you for any of it!" Faith yells as her eyes start tearing up. "I know that you couldn't help that you had friends that supported you or a family that cared. That was just how things turned out," she says, wiping at her eyes.

Buffy's expression softens and she takes a step forward and Faith takes one step back. "Faith-" she begins.

"Don't. Just don't," Faith says firmly. "You have no right to care now. Not after spending all that time ignoring me. You know nothing about me and it's too late to try and become a part of my life now," she says.

"It's never too late," Buffy says. "I wish things had been different too. There has been a lot of things going on and I just feel like I needed you to be their with me," she sighs. "I just feel like I needed you, especially these last two years," she sighs.

Faith stands still a moment, looking at Buffy with her head cocked to one side and a confused expression on her face. She shakes her head out of its daze. "Whatever B, I'm leaving," she says as she walks out of the room.


	10. Feeling Crappy

Missy bolts out of the room and runs to catch up with Faith. She grabs Faith by the wrist, forcing her to turn around. "I thought you said you were going to stop running away," she says angrily.

Faith's anger seems to dissipate at the remembrance of her promise. "I wasn't running, it was more of a brisk walk," she defends feebly. Missy gives her a stern look and Faith sighs. "Buffy is just something that I can't deal with right now."

"If you don't deal with her now, when will you?" Missy asks rhetorically. 

"Look Missy, I know that you mean well, but Buffy is something that I need to deal with on my own time, okay?" Faith says tiredly and Missy nods. Faith sighs and starts to walk away.

Missy watches dejectedly as her friend and sister walks off. She turns and goes back to the room Faith was in and finds Buffy sitting in one of the chairs. "Faith left. She need time to cool off I think," she says absently.

"I understand," Buffy says with a nod.

Missy looks over at Buffy. "What happened with you guys exactly?" She asks suspiciously.

"She didn't tell you?" Buffy asks incredulously. 

"There's a lot of stuff about her life with her family that she never told you," Missy counters.

Buffy concedes defeat with a sigh. "I'm just saying that, since it was the reason of her being here and you being a Slayer, she would have said something."

"Well, she isn't exactly for opening up to people, as I'm sure that you know," Missy says with a defeated sigh.

"I'm sure that I had helped some in that degree," Buffy says despondently. "I mean, I never encouraged her to tell me about her life. She was always more of an on-call Slayer. She we only called her if we needed help, but never to just hang out. I was a bad friend, and that's what she needed the most," Buffy says, mostly to herself.

"I guess Faith's always just needed someone to show her that they cared," Missy says in agreement.

"Well, she has you now," she says.

"And you," Missy says with a smile. "And Torrance and Courtney too I guess," she says idly.

"Who are they?" Buffy says curiously.

Missy smiles to herself at the subtle display of jealousy and possessiveness with an edge of curiosity. "A couple of blonde cheerleaders that are trying to bond with Faith," she says with a hint of amusement at the struck expression on Buffy's face.

Faith heads back to her apartment in no apparent rush as she drags her feet on the ground. She suddenly hears a voice off in the distance.

"Faith! Hey wait up!" Torrance calls out as she and Courtney run up to her.

Faith stops and turns towards them, watching with amusement. "Stalking me?" She asks, her eyes directed at Torrance.

"She heard you were in the hospital," Courtney snipes nodding her head towards her friend. "She had to drag me from a peaceful sleep because she doesn't have a car," she grumbles, not making eye contact with either of them and yawning for emphasis.

"Well, it's not like you objected at all after I told you what happened," Torrance smirks and Courtney blushes.

"So, you guys came to my rescue. How sweet," Faith deadpans.

"You didn't look too good when I saw you last," Torrance says vaguely because of Courtney's presence.

"I heal fast," Faith shrugs. She turns around, "See, I'm five by five." She notices the confused expressions on their faces. "Never mind."

"Are you sure you're all right?" Courtney asks as she looks at the small cut on Faith's forehead.

Faith smirks. "See you guys on Monday," she says before walking off.

"Look, we should probably go before one of the doctors or nurses walk in," Missy says reasonably to Buffy.

"What do you mean?" Buffy asks with confusion.

Missy sighs. _Blondes. _"Well," she begins slowly as if talking to a slower version of Forrest Gump, "I think it would be a little strange for one of them to walk in and have their patient be missing," she says.

"Yeah, I guess it would be strange," she agrees before they walk out of the room.

Once outside, Missy spots three familiar figures: Faith, Courtney and Torrance in the distance just as Faith walks off. "Hey you two," Missy calls to the cheerleaders

They turn around and Torrance smiles and Courtney has an inscrutable expression on her face. "Hey," they say in unison.

"You guys were coming to see Faith?" Missy asks them as she and Buffy get closer.

"Uh, yeah," Courtney says as she eyes Buffy carefully. "Who are you?" She asks, forever being her usual tactful self.

"Uh, I, um…I'm a **friend **of Faith's," she states, straining on the one word.

The other two blondes narrow their eyes slightly, causing Buffy to take a cautious step back. Missy smirks at the blonde Slayer's discomfort. "She and I were just talking to Faith in the hospital and she just kind of left. She isn't a very big fan of them as I'm sure you know Buffy," she says, ignoring the lethal expression on the other Slayer's face. A sudden look of realization came over Torrance's face, which she hid almost immediately. She was too slow because the two Slayers saw it before she was able to mask it.

"So, what brings the two of you out this early in the day?" Buffy asks the two cheerleaders.

"We heard Faith was in the hospital," Torrance says.

"Yeah, what happened?" Courtney asks.

Missy clears her throat. "She got into a fight after leaving the football game. They cheated and used, um, weapons. When she got back to her apartment, Buffy was there. Faith had gone into the back room and passed out. Buffy brought her to the hospital and called me," she explains with a few 'adjustments'. 

"Couldn't be too bad if they discharged her, right?" Torrance asks with a slight smile.

"Discharged? Oh yeah, right," Buffy fumbles momentarily.

"She wasn't discharged was she?" Courtney asks suspiciously. The other two girls are silent. "She just walked out," she says incredulously.

"It's not like we could have stopped her or anything," Missy defends herself and Buffy.

"She will be okay though right?" Torrance asks.

"Oh yeah. You know Faith, nothing can keep her down for too long," Missy says with a smirk. "She's probably all healed by now," she says.

"Yeah," Courtney says slowly and then there is a pause. "So, she probably went back to her apartment then, huh?" She asks them and Buffy and Missy just shrug. "Well, Torrance and I should probably just go," she says when it gets too awkward for all of them.

Missy and Buffy start walking off towards Faith's "So, that was Torrance and Courtney?" Buffy scoffs sounding more like a statement than a question. Missy just glances over at her in amused acknowledgement. "I can take them," she says with confidence.

"It wouldn't really be a fair fight then would it?" Missy asks with a chuckle and Buffy looks over at her as if she didn't know she was there to begin with. "It's not about being able to take someone or not Buff. They are all just friends, something maybe the two of you could become again," she says, mostly asking for hope more than anything.

Buffy sighs deeply. "Yeah, I hope so, but, there is just so much you know? It's like, we've taken turns hurting one another and we don't seem to know how to do anything else now," she says, looking pleadingly at Missy.

"So I've heard," she says with a crooked smile.

"But that isn't the half of it. There was other stuff too. We didn't start off trying to kill each other, it just…happened," she says with another deep sigh. "I mean, she was right with a lot of things she said. I don't even know her whole name."

"Faith Adrienne Porter," came a voice behind them. 

Missy and Buffy turned and saw Faith walking towards them. "You were eavesdropping," Buffy accuses in a low growl.

"No, I was taking the long way home when the two of you go walking by talking about me. That hardly constitutes as eavesdropping," Faith explains as she pushes her way by them, but then turns around. "Why were you going to my apartment after me?" She asks, narrowing her eyes.

"To make sure you were okay," Missy says before Buffy has a chance to deny it.

"Here I am, safe and sound," Faith says as she holds her arms open in a gesture to show she is fine. 

"So why do you need to go back to your apartment if you are feeling okay?" Buffy asks. 

Faith's smirk fades and she pales slightly, but it only lasts a moment or two. "I just need to change out of these clothes and shower," she says smartly.

Missy looks at Buffy with a look of realization. "Since you're feeling better, how about Buffy and I come with you and we can get lunch when you're done?" She offers with a smile.

"Yeah, I remember how you were after slaying and, as far as we know, you haven't gotten any kind of release after your fight," Buffy says innocently.

"Yeah, right," Faith says slowly with a slight scowl, caught between a rock and a hard place. _Go with them and feel like shit the rest of the day or not go and make them suspicious. _After a moment of deliberation, she says with a grimace, "I guess we could do that."

"Great," they say in unison. "Let's go," Missy says with a smile as they head back to Faith's place. 

The three girls walk into Faith's apartment. She runs a hand through her hair nervously and looks at the other two. "I'm just going to…" she trails off, motioning towards her back room and they nod in understanding. "Just hang out or whatever. I'll only be a sec."

"Yeah. We'll wait in here," Missy says as she sits on the couch. Buffy just stands and looks after Faith. "You okay?" Missy asks with a smirk.

"Fine. Do you think Faith would tell us if she was feeling crappy?" She asks with a shake of her head.

"No way. That goes against everything she stands for," Missy grins. "She should be okay. I doubt she is in mortal danger or anything," she says somberly.

Faith steps out of the shower and wraps a towel around her. She goes to the mirror and wipes the fog away with her hand and looks at her reflection and sighs. Seeing the redness in her eyes, she squeezes them shut then opens them back up. _Don't worry. You'll be fine. _

She opens up the medicine cabinet behind the mirror and reveals several prescription medication bottles. After a moment, she pulls one down and shakes out two small, round white pills, tilts her head back and swallows them. Then, she holds the sides of the sink for support as she struggles to stay standing. Faith takes a couple of deep breaths then stands back up and changes her clothes with minimal difficulty.

"You guys ready?" Faith asks with a halfhearted smile as she exit's the bathroom, discreetly pocketing a medicine bottle.

"Sure are," Buffy says brightly, eliciting a smirk from Missy.

"Let's go then," Missy states, jumping off of the couch.

"So, where to?" Faith asks with a forged smile.

"I saw this Italian place I saw on the way down here," Buffy offers. "It's **_Giovanni's _**or something, I don't think it's far," she says thoughtfully.

"Sounds good," Missy says and Faith nods in agreement.

They were all sitting in the restaurant having just ordered their food. Faith sits quietly sipping at her Coke. Missy watches Buffy watching Faith and smirks.

"Faith?" Buffy asks, shaking Faith out of her reverie. "You're being unusually quiet. It's very unlike you," she smiles.

Faith blinks in response. "As if you would know," she mutters before looking back down at her drink.

Buffy becomes silent, suddenly subdued. "Sorry," she mumbles.

"Faith, stop being a bitch," Missy whispers harshly so the only people that hear are sitting at that table. She looks up sharply. "Buff is making an effort to be nice to you and the least you could do is be nice."

Faith looks at Buffy. "Don't you think it's a little late for that?" She asks in a tone more curious than harsh.

Buffy looks into Faith's eyes for a moment until Faith notices what she's doing and looks away. It's too late though. "Faith, why are your eyes bloodshot?" She asks with concern.

Faith grumbles a moment to herself as she runs a hand through her hair. "I'm fine. I just need more sleep," she explains, only half lying.

Missy can tell it isn't the truth. "They didn't look like that when we left," she points out suspiciously.

"I guess it's finally catching up with me," Faith snaps back as she sands up. The sudden movement causes her to get a massive head rush. 

"Faith?" Buffy asks as she notices the glazed look on her face. She gets up too late to stop her from collapsing, the medicine bottle rolling out of her jacket pocket. Buffy moves to Faith's side and she sees the bottle. "Hey Miss?" She asks holding it up. 


	11. Faith's Problem

"What is that?" Missy asks as she gets to Faith's side and looks at the bottle. 

"Look, I don't know what that is, but I don't think her passing out is a good sign," Buffy says in panic-mode.

"Huh?" Faith murmurs from the ground as she looks up at the blurred figures in front of her.

"Hey Faith," Buffy says gently as she cradles her head in her lap. "What happened?" She asks softly.

"Nothing," Faith protests with a grumble as she struggles to get up.

"Bullshit," Missy says as Buffy restrains her from getting up. "Something is obviously going on or else you wouldn't have passed out like that," she reasons.

Faith closes her eyes and relaxes on Buffy's lap for a brief moment before blanching and bolting upright. "Oh shit," she grumbles as she hauls ass towards the bathroom.

Missy and Buffy share a worried expression before getting up and waiting by the restroom. When Faith emerges from the door after, presumably, vomiting, she squints her eyes and looks at them with anxiety. "You want to tell us what's wrong now?" Buffy asks softly.

Faith pauses for a moment then answers, "I need to go and lie down," she evades. To her surprise, they nod and lead her back to her apartment in silence.

Faith is laying down on her couch with her eyes closed while Buffy and Missy are trying to get her to talk to them.

"You're not okay Faith," Buffy says with concern. "Please talk to us," she pleads.

"Miss, Buff, please, not right now. I really am feeling kind of shitty and I do not need you two harpies squawking in my ear right now," she snaps.

"We're concerned Faith. Granted you are not miss-open-with-her-feelings, but this is really serious," Missy retorts.

"You wouldn't know now would you?" Faith asks rhetorically.

Buffy sighs at Faith's behavior, but is suddenly struck with an idea. "I'm going to go use the bathroom," she says as she gets up and Faith just nods. 

She walks into the bathroom, turns on the light and closes the door. After she makes sure the door is closed all the way, she opens up Faith's medicine cabinet. Upon looking in she takes a step back and sees bottles of prescription medications. Buffy picks out a random bottle. 

"Lithium," she mumbles to herself as she reads out the label. Being careful, she places it back where she found it. "Prozac, Ritalin," she murmurs as she reads them out quietly to herself. "What's wrong with you Faith?" She silently questions. Carefully, she closes the cabinet back up, flushes the toilet for effect and exit's the bathroom.

"How long are you here?" Faith asks almost immediately when Buffy reappears.

She is taken aback by the sudden question. "I don't know. However long I need to be here I guess," she answers hesitantly.

"Hmm," Faith grunts. She sits up to stretch and rub her neck.

Buffy looks at her and sits down, not sure when, if at all, to bring up her discovery. "How bad is it that you can't tell us?" She asks, breeching the subject lightly.

Faith looks over at her with a confused expression. "It's not bad at all and there is no reason to tell you guys because you will make it worse than it is," she says while not looking directly at either of them.

Buffy moves to say something, but Missy cuts her off. "It's okay Faith. If it were really important, then you would tell us, right?" Missy asks.

"Yeah, right," Faith responds, though she does not sound so sure. 

"Not so sure anymore are you Faith?" Buffy inquires when she notices Faith's hesitancy.

"You really are making a big deal out of nothing," Faith hedges. "I mean, it really is not that important," she tells them and they sit patiently. Faith sighs. "Fine. The pills you found in my pocket was for migraines," she states.

"Migraines?" Missy asks. "I didn't know slayers could get migraines," she says.

"I got them even before I was called," Faith sighs again. "And…" she begins tentatively, but then stops herself.

"It's okay to tell us Faith," Buffy encourages gently.

Faith lets out a long suffering sigh and hangs her head as if in deep thought. "They required me to see a shrink while I was in prison," she admits softly. "I had to see her once a week at first, but after the first month…" Faith pauses. "She suggested that I see her twice a week instead," she mumbles.

"What happened?" Missy questions.

She lets out a short puff of air, still looking down. "Dr. Spiegel already knew all about my life," she grinds out bitterly, "but she made me rehash everything I'd ever done wrong personally." Faith stares crossly at her hands. "After my third month in prison, she decided that she solved the mystery that was 'Faith Porter'," she snorts derisively.

"What was it?" Buffy inquires hesitantly.

Faith looks up and glances curiously at them both before returning her gaze downwards. "A very complex mixture of many things," she grumbles mockingly. "I was- am- a pathological liar…obviously, I am an upper level anti-social…she referred to me as her favorite sociopath on more than one occasion," Faith smirks at the memory before her face darkens.

"Are you okay?" Missy asks with concern at Faith's dismal state.

"Upon closer examination of my records and statements made to her, she diagnosed me as bipolar," Faith scoffs. "With bouts of depression and/or uncontrollable rage," she finishes scholarly with a smirk to hide her discomfort. Missy and Buffy look at Faith with dumbfounded expressions on their faces. Under the scrutiny, Faith's discomfort grows and she nervously clears her throat. "You could say **_something_**," she says to them.

With that, Buffy goes up to Faith and hugs her. "I am so sorry Faith. I wish I had known," she tells her.

Faith's mouth hangs open as Buffy pulls away. Catching herself, she closes it but it opens again on its own free will. She shakes her head to clear it out. "**_I _**didn't even know. What kind of ass would I have been to expect you to?" She asks. "And what's with the hugging?" She asks scrunching up her nose in confusion.

"Faith," Missy begins, "we love you and we worry about you. That's why we made a big deal out of it. All Buffy and I want is for you to be honest with us," she says reasonably.

"That way history won't repeat itself," Buffy concludes.

Faith sits on the couch and looks up at them. "As much as I appreciate your concern, I think you guys should go now," Faith says after a moment or so of internal deliberation (a.k.a talking to herself).

"Why?" Missy asks cautiously as she looks at the pensive expression on her sister's face.

"I just need to process the events of the last couple of days," she tells them.

"Uh, yeah. Of course Faith," Buffy says. "I'll see you later, right?" She asks before leaving with Missy.

"I couldn't get away from you if I tried Buff," Faith smirks self-deprecatingly. Buffy smiles back. 

"Bye Faith," Missy says as she walks out the door with the other Slayer.

Faith sighs as the two leave. She lays back down on the couch and closes her eyes. Laying like that for a couple of minutes, she decides to move to her bed so that she won't wake up with a stiff neck. As she gets up, there is another knock on the door. She mentally slams her head against a wall. 

"Coming," she says as she gets to the door and swings it open to reveal Torrance and Courtney. "What are you two doing here?" She asks only slightly rudely.

"Are you for real about the Slayer thing?" Courtney, the Almighty Tactful One asks.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So I was so long in getting this up. I had writer's block and I just started writing a bunch of other BtVS fic to try and cure it. Maybe I'll put some of it up later, but anyways….


	12. Oops

Faith's jaw drops and she looks from an apologetic Torrance to an expectant Courtney. She rubs her eyes and sighs. "Come in and take a seat," she instructs moving out of the doorway for them to enter.

"So this is, like, for real then?" Courtney asks skeptically. 

Faith rubs her eyes a moment before regarding them a second later. "There is one girl in all the world, the Chosen One. She is chosen to protect the world from vampires and other things that are only supposed to be a parent's way of keeping their little brats in check," she explains. "Somehow, it got fucked up and I ended up in this position with two others."

"Buffy and Missy," Torrance says, though it sounds like a question and Faith nods. "Why San Diego then? Why haven't you guys split up around the country or world or something?" She asks.

"California is a hotbed of evil, ironic huh," Faith smirks sarcastically. "And besides, I'm not even allowed to leave the state," she grumbles to herself.

"Why not? Where were you before this?" Courtney asks.

"I'm, uh, on parole," Faith mumbles nervously looking at her feet. "But look, none of that matters. What matters is that I am here and I am here for a reason. That reason is to slay, something which I must be getting on with so, if you don't mind: leave," she says opening the door for them.

"Okay then," Courtney drawls out as she and Torrance leave Faith's apartment.

Faith closes the door and leans her forehead against it and lets out a sigh of relief. She turns and looks out the window to see that the sun surely is going down and she needs to be out there doing her job. She grabs her jacket and leaves the apartment.

Missy and Buffy are walking along the sidewalk not looking at or talking to each other. "We should probably do the slaying tonight," Missy observes as she looks up at the darkening skies.

"Yeah. Faith is probably asleep by now anyways. She looked like she was barely conscious when we left," Buffy agrees. "She is most likely not up for slaying," she concludes.

"So what about you Buff?" Missy asks after a few moments and Buffy gives her a confused expression. "Did you really come back here to kill her?" She inquires nonchalantly as they enter a nearby cemetery.

Buffy is startled by Missy's bluntness, which she now believes to run in Faith's family. "I was suspicious as to why she hadn't come back to Sunnydale. I figured she had to have been up to something if she hadn't let anyone know she was out in the first place," she explains to the other Slayer after thinking about it.

"Understandable I guess," Missy concedes. "Maybe she didn't tell anyone she was out because she didn't want them to come after her. If that was the case, I it didn't work," she says.

Buffy leans against a headstone and sighs. "I don't want to be worrying about her but I can't help it," she tells Missy. "There is so much I didn't, and still don't, know about her that I wish I did before."

"Yeah, like what?" An interested Missy inquires.

"That she's bipolar for one. It certainly explains a lot about how she acted in Sunnydale and just everything," Buffy sighs. "Now I know that I never knew anything about her to begin with. I always knew she had problems, but I guess that, at the time, I was too wrapped up in myself to care," she admits mortified at her behavior. 

"Well, Faith's childhood wasn't exactly filled with puppies or rainbows," Missy comments with a smirk. "As for our family, well, we aren't quite the Cleavers," she smiles at her own joke and Buffy rolls her eyes.

Faith is walking along a darkened pathway absently. She hears a scuffle behind some bushes and looks to see Missy and Buffy fighting a pack of vampires. For a split second, Faith contemplates continuing her brisk evening stroll, but then she dismisses it just as quickly as she steps up.

Faith walks up to the vampire beating on Buffy and taps him lightly on the shoulder. "Is this invite only or can I crash?" She asks innocently as he turns and faces her.

"Uh, I, we…" He stammers before Faith punches him in his face.

"I guess I'm going to have to crash," she shrugs as she goes for another vampire, stake at the ready.

"You a little rusty Buff?" Faith asks smartly as she pats the senior Slayer on the back.

"No," Buffy growls irritably as she pushes Faith's hand away. "They just ambushed us alright? We had it under control," she explains.

"So, the you getting punched in the face repeatedly was your strategy? Very sneaky B, I would've never thought of that," Faith smirks sarcastically. 

"Aren't you supposed to be doped up in your apartment or something?" Buffy snaps irritably.

Faith pauses and lets the insult wash over her before continuing, trying to hide the hurt. "I would think you'd want me out here fighting big bad things when I'm at my worst. It makes you look good and makes me look…dead," Faith counters self-deprecatingly.

"Hey, can you two retract your claws for, like, five minutes?" Missy asks rhetorically as she rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, whatever," Buffy grumbles and Faith just shrugs 'whatever'.

"Good," Missy nods. "What were Courtney and Torrance doing at your apartment?" She asks Faith after a moments pause. "Buff and I saw them on our way out," she explains.

"They came to question my Slayerness," Faith sighs and rubs her neck awkwardly. "I told them to leave almost as soon as they entered anyways," she shrugs.

"What are they stalking you or something?" Buffy asks irritated.

"I don't know. I don't care either," Faith says, eyeing Buffy warily.

**_Monday Morning- 2nd period_**

Courtney saunters in to World Lit about ten minutes after class had started and offers a halfhearted excuse to the teacher that Faith doesn't bother enough to pay attention. Seconds later Courtney takes her seat next to the Slayer.

"What's up?" The cheerleader asks with concern at the Slayer's worn appearance.

Faith raises an eyebrow at the show of concern from the usually sneering cheerleader. After a few brief moment of appraising the, apparent, sincerity of the question, Faith decided to answer. "No rest for the wicked I guess," she shrugs noncommittally at her evasive response. Courtney nods slightly, not really accepting the answer, but instead choosing to pursue the topic after class.

Whitney notices the exchange between the two girls and rips out a page from her notebook and begins writing furiously. Moments later, she nudges Faith to pass the note to Courtney, which she does.

Courtney looks suspiciously at the note, then to Faith who motions towards Whitney. Then, Whitney points to the note and gestures for her to read it immediately. So, cautiously, Courtney unfolds the paper and begins to read:

__

C,

Since when did you start liking girls anyways?-

Courtney's head shoots up as she looks at her friend, who nods her head for her to finish reading. With a sigh, she looks back down at the piece of paper:

_I mean, not that there's anything wrong with it…but Faith?!?_

W

If it's at all possible, Courtney's scowl deepens and she pulls out her pen and starts writing vigorously with a sour expression on her face. Once finished, she violently folds the paper back up and goes to pass it back, but then is stopped.

"Ms. Scott," the teacher says in acknowledgement of the student he is standing over, much to Courtney's dismay. "Would you care to give me that note that you were prepared to hand back to Ms. Harold over there?" He asks, referring to Whitney.

Courtney blushes a very deep and very bold shade of red as she looks at the paper clutched in her hand. "Not really," she answers lamely and the class giggles. Faith just looks at her with a curious, but sympathetic expression on her face. 

The teacher however, holds out his hand for the note, which Courtney reluctantly surrenders. Whitney's eyes grow wide as she looks at the teacher, who goes back to his desk, reading the note the way over.

He looks up at her with a strange look on his face just as the bell rings to dismiss the class. Before Courtney can bolt out of the door, the teacher stops her. "Ms. Scott, can I speak with you?" He asks, almost timidly and she nods as she waits for the other students to file out.

Faith walks by slowly and with a worried expression. "I'll wait outside for you," she whispers in Courtney's ear as she passes her. She sees Courtney nod slightly before exiting the room.

Courtney looks expectantly at the teacher as the room is emptied out. He stands up out of his chair and looks between her and the note before he finds the words he's looking for. "So…" he begins.

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*Gasp* I added another chapter. Sorry, I've had writer's block and this chapter is kind of lame and I apologize. So, tell me if you think it totally sucked or if it was okay.

Oh, and by the way, I had to guess on Courtney and Whitney's last names, I forgot them, if they were ever even mentioned in the movie.

__

****


	13. The Letter

"Mr. Cooper, I can explain," Courtney begins before the teacher can say anything. "That note-"

He sighs and puts his hand up to stop her from continuing as he looks up at the girl. "Ms. Scott, what's in this note is something for you to sort out for yourself. I just want you to know that if you are having problems with anything that you can come to me, any of your other teachers or even your guidance councilor. As clichéd as it may sound, that's what we're here for," he says with a slight smirk.

"Thanks," Courtney mumbles as she takes back the note with a blush. She then grabs her purse and her book and scurries out of the classroom.

"Oh, and by the way, try and save discussions of these internal conflicts for after my class, **not **during," he adds, trying to prevent anyone from thinking he's too nice.

"Hey," Faith greets as Courtney exits the class. "Everything okay?" She asks with actual concern for the other girl. Then, she notices the flush of the blonde's face and looks at her suspiciously. "What was in the note?" She asks good-naturedly pointing to the paper in the other girl's hand.

"It's nothing, just got in trouble for not paying attention to him," Courtney replies as she maintains her death grip on the paper.

Just then, Torrance comes flying around the corner into Courtney, sending her and Courtney's stuff flying. "Oh God Court, I am so sorry," she mumbles blushing as all three girls bend down to pick their books up. "I was looking for you to tell you that we have to train our newest member," she says with a smirk.

"It's no problem," she replies in regards to her stuff. "We need to go now?" She asks, glancing at a smiling Faith.

"Yeah, sorry," Torrance replies looking between Courtney and Faith. 

"Um, okay. Bye Faith," Courtney waves as she runs off to help train the new girl.

Faith just smirks to herself as she watches the two blondes run to the gym. She shakes her head and happens to glance down and see a piece of folded paper on the ground with 'Courtney' scrawled across it in large bubble letters. She retrieves it from the floor and looks up, but Courtney has already disappeared. "Oh well, I'll just give it to her next time I see her," she shrugs to herself as she continues walking down the hallway.

After all of her classes, Faith is strolling towards her car, not thinking about the note Courtney dropped earlier. _Nope, not thinking about it at all. Yeah right._ Faith snorts to herself.

"So, I can't train with you today," Missy tells her distracted sister. When Faith doesn't respond, she sees the note in her hand. "Ooh, what's this?" She asks as she snatches the note from her hand.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Faith asks as she finally takes notice of Missy. "Courtney dropped that in the hallway," she told her, as if that was somehow incentive to not read it. "That's invasion of privacy," she points out as Missy opens it up to read it.

"Since when do you care?" Missy snarks back as she starts reading the contents quietly to herself. She then looks up at Faith with a smirk. "You're right, you probably shouldn't read that," she teases mock-gravely as she carefully folds it back up and hands it back to Faith before turning around and walking off.

"Hey, where are you going? You really need to train," she calls out to her little sister as she starts to follow her.

Missy turns around and looks at Faith with a smirk. "I have cheerleading practice," she replies, trying not to sound sarcastic about it, but suddenly looking forward to giving Courtney a really hard time.

"Wait, you're what?" Faith asks incredulously as she grinds to a halt.

"You heard me," Missy replies with a mischievous grin. _Oh boy, now I get to torture Courtney. _She smirks to herself and flounces off to her first practice.

Faith is standing, stupefied in the parking lot for nearly a minute before dropping her stuff in the car and going to the gym after her sister. Of course she has the mysterious note with her, for no other reason than to give it back to Courtney. Not even **_Faith_** honestly believes that.

As she enters the gym, she sees Courtney shooting daggers at Missy, who is seated on the bleachers with a smirk and begins to wonder if joining in the festivities was really a good idea. _It was a good idea in theory. _Faith shrugs and goes to sit down in the bleachers behind Missy so that her sister doesn't notice her.

Missy doesn't notice Faith walk in and sit down, but Whitney does. And Whitney also doesn't hesitate to notify her friend, who's jittery enough after having lost 'the note', as well. "Hey Courtney," she says with a cheerful, no pun intended, smile.

"Yeah, what?" Courtney asks in a short tone, which Whitney ignores.

"Look who showed up for practice," she states as she nods towards the bleachers behind Missy.

Courtney blushes a deep red, which Faith notices from her position and begins to wonder. "Oh please no, please no," she silently pleads. Missy smirks and, judging by the other two's actions and words, she now knows Faith is seated behind her.

Faith, for her part, is clueless. She reads Courtney's lips and her attention is drawn to the note in her hands. Now, not even being able to help herself, she inconspicuously reads over the note.

__

C,

Since when did you start liking girls anyways? Not that there's anything wrong with it…but Faith?

W

Faith rolls her eyes, not surprised at Whitney's crack-headed conclusions. She smirks, but then reads Courtney's response to Whitney.

_W,_

Faith is great and I **do** really like her. It's not like I can help it. I mean, she wears all that leather and…goddamn it Whitney!

She is staring down at the note, dumbfounded. Faith blinks rapidly, not knowing whether to laugh or cry or both. When she looks back up she sees that the cheerleaders are getting ready to start. Courtney makes eye contact with her, but then quickly looks away.

"I knew you wouldn't be able to help yourself," Missy says in a sing-song voice as she leans back to look at her sister.

Faith glares at Missy for a moment before her gaze softens. "This is just too weird, even for me…and I slay vampires," she states warily.

"Yeah. Courtney, go figure," Missy smirks. "But, then again I didn't see Buffy either…I guess my gaydar must be off," she shrugs mischievously.

"What?" Faith asks, trying to control the volume of her voice.

"Yours must be off too," Missy muses with a wide grin.

"Are you _trying _to make my life difficult or does it just come naturally?" Faith asks, frustrated.

"Faith, come on. We come from the same gene pool, you know the answer to that," Missy replies, trying not to laugh.

"But I'm your own flesh and blood. We're Slayers, we have to stick together in the spirit of sisterhood yo," Faith replies.

Missy looks at her seriously for a moment, but can't come up with any kind of response. Then she and Faith just start laughing their asses off, much to the displeasure of the rest of the squad.

"Missy!" Torrance barks at the newest teammate.

"Sorry," Missy replies feeling sufficiently chastised. 

"Yeah, that was my bad. I'll leave Missy alone now," Faith smirks at the irate cheerleaders as she stands up to leave, winking at Courtney, who blushes. "Could you give this back to her for me?" She asks Missy.

"Yeah," she replies.

"I mean it," Faith states sternly. 

"Okay, I promise," Missy grumbles back.

"Good. See you later then," Faith smiles as she leaves.

Back in the parking lot, Faith is preparing to get into her car when along comes none other than Buffy Summers herself.

"Never could really picture you as the academic type," Buffy comments as she comes over to Faith.

Faith slams the door shut before entering and turns to Buffy. "Why are you still here?" She asks angrily. "What do you want, a written statement saying I won't hunt down your family and friends and try to kill them?" She shouts.

Buffy looks down at her feet. "I'm sorry," she mumbles.

Faith sighs. "No, I'm the one that should be sorry. It's just been a long day," she apologizes. "I mean, finding out Missy joined the cheerleading squad is pretty traumatizing," she laughs.

"You're kidding," Buffy smirks.

"Go to the gym if you don't believe me," Faith chuckles as she shakes her head.

"This I've got to see," she grins back as she and Faith make their way back to the gym. Once there, they look in through the door and find Missy and Courtney shouting at one another.

"I will kick your ass from here to next Christmas!" Missy yells.

"I would like to see you try bitch!" Courtney shouts back in reply.

"Hey! What's going on here?" Faith intervenes.

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Uh oh. I sense trouble is afoot. Now that my computer is working again, the next chapter won't be nearly as long. For all explanations and apologies please see 'Chasing Shadows' chapter 8.

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	14. Awkward Much?

Both Courtney and Missy stop yelling and turn to see an irate Faith and confused Buffy standing in the doorway to the gym.

"What's the problem with the two of you, huh?" Faith asks sternly, looking between the two of them, who suddenly have nothing to say.

"Maybe you should just let them deal with what it is," Buffy suggests into Faith's ear, which only seems to fuel Courtney's jealousy that much more. 

"Stay out of this," Faith suggests quietly to her.

"It's nothing, really," Courtney replies sheepishly.

Whitney looks between Courtney and Faith and opens her mouth to say something, but Torrance catches her eye and shakes her head for her to not say anything. "It was my fault. You know me, always instigating things," Missy tells her older sister with a grin.

Faith sighs. "We're going to talk about this later Miss," she tells her as she walks out of the gym, shaking her head.

Courtney turns back around, where the squad is staring at her. "What the hell are you looking at?" She asks them in a biting tone, causing everyone to go back to what they were doing. 

Torrance, who was standing near Courtney the whole time, looks at her with a mix of sympathy and understanding. "I didn't know-" She begins in earnest.

"Just drop it," Courtney orders sharply as she turns dramatically and struts out of the gym into the locker room, deciding she needed to leave practice early today. 

Buffy, who witnesses the exchange, approaches Torrance as Missy trails behind Courtney with a remorseful expression. "What happened?" She asks the cheerleader.

Torrance cocks her head to the side and looks at the other blond for a moment. "I'm not really sure," he replies, only lying a little bit.

Buffy seems to accept that however. "I see," she nods before exiting the gym to find Faith.

Back in the locker room, Missy walks in to find Courtney cramming her uniform angrily into her duffel bag as she prepares to leave for the day. "Hey," she begins softly.

Courtney looks up sharply at the girl and narrows her eyes. "What do you want now?" She asks curtly as she sets her bag down and approaches Missy.

"To apologize for calling you out back there," Missy answers sufficiently frightened of the blond cheerleader before her. "I didn't mean for it to turn out the way it did," she elaborates.

"Oh, and how did you expect it to turn out? I know you didn't expect it to end in all hugs and puppies I'm sure," Courtney rants briefly, flailing her arms in frustration.

Missy looks down at her shoes. "I don't know what I expected. I know I didn't expect that though," she admits. "I'm sorry," she says quietly.

Courtney sighs and grabs her bag. "Okay," she replies before exiting the locker room.

Missy watches her walk out of the room before shaking her head and going back to the gym, not looking forward to meeting up with Faith later to explain what happened.

"Wow, this has been some day," Faith chuckles sardonically as Buffy approaches her.

Buffy smiles at her. "Drama," she nods knowingly.

"Was it this bad when you were in school 'cause I didn't show up enough to really know?" Faith asks with a self-depreciating smirk.

"I had my moments," Buffy responds lightly. "I **_am _**sorry," she adds seriously.

"About what?" Faith asks, perplexed once again.

"Being too wrapped up in my own crap to help you," Buffy tells her.

Faith just waves it off. "Please, you tried and I blew you and the others off. I just didn't think I was in the wrong at the time, you know," she shrugs. "'Live and let live' I always say," she adds.

"You always say that?" Buffy asks skeptically and Faith nods. "Since when?" She asks challengingly.

"Since always," Faith simply says. "You getting in or not?" She asks as she points to the passenger's side.

"I don't know Faith," Buffy replies unsure.

"Please, it's not like I drive like you," Faith replies, rolling her eyes.

A few hours later, Faith gets up off of the couch and stretches as she stands at the sound of someone at the door. "Be right there," she nearly shouts as they knock again. "Hey," she says as she opens the door to let Missy in.

"Hey," the other girl replies tentatively. "So, um, what's up?" She asks with a light smirk.

"What happened after I left?" She asks, skipping the small talk and getting right to the point. 

"Never one for tact huh?" Missy asks while fidgeting and Faith shrugs indifferently. "Okay, so after you left I told her that you wanted me to give that note she dropped back to her," she explains.

"And that is why she was tripping out?" Faith asks, quirking an eyebrow.

"Not exactly," Missy says slowly, taking a deep breath. "I said it kind of loud and the quad got all gossipy about it," she tells her.

"What do you mean?" Faith asks suspiciously. 

"They flocked over and one of the guys, Les I think, got it and read it, then it all went to hell after that," she admits softly.

Faith lets out a breath as Missy says this. "So, you were partially responsible for outing Courtney to the rest of the squad and, therefore, the rest of the school. That about sum it up?" She asks.

"Yeah, that about covers it. But I didn't want that. I just wanted her to sweat a little, you know. I didn't want the others to actually read it," she admits softly.

Faith sighs. "I guess we're just going to have to wait this thing out and see what happens," she says regrettably.

"Are you mad?" Missy asks, not wanting to have disappointed her sister.

"I don't know. But I definitely think that Courtney's mad enough for the both of us right about now," Faith responds and Missy can't help but chuckle at that and even Faith manages to crack a smile.

The next morning, Faith wakes up and wants nothing more that to not go in and face whatever crap school awaits for her today. Nevertheless, she drags her ass out of bed and gets dressed and gets on her way to school, albeit late.

Once there, she trudges into her second class of the day a few minutes before everyone else has a chance to arrive. Mr. Cooper gives her a strange expression, to which Faith quirks her eyebrow. He finds an excuse to avert his attention as other students begin filing in.

Courtney walks in the door with a hangdog expression as she spots Faith, who sinks down into her seat. 

"Hey," Faith offers weakly as Courtney takes the assigned seat next to her. "How are you?" She asks sincerely.

Courtney looks at her nervously and sees that Faith is making an attempt at having a comfortable conversation. "Okay. You?" She asks back.

Before Faith has a chance to answer though, the bell rings signifying the start of class. All they can do is stick it out until it's over.

An hour later, Mr. Cooper dismisses them to their next class. Faith exits and Courtney is close behind her.

"So, what do we do now?" Faith asks as she studies Courtney's features closely for a moment.

"I don't know. Where does this leave us?" She inquires, trying to figure out where they stand with one another.

"In a very awkward position right now," Faith responds unenthusiastically.

"No kidding," Courtney smirks and Faith gives her a smile. "Maybe we should talk about this after class," she suggests.

"You're right. I'll see you later then," Faith says, sounding none to excited about the conversation she's about to have as the next bell sounds, telling them that they'd better hurry up if they didn't want to be late for their next class.


End file.
